The Innocence of Our World
by KiyodraN494
Summary: When Ayano and Yumiko accidentally run into Lavi, Kanda, and Allen one day, their lives couldn't change any more dramatically. Suddenly, they're on the hunt for Innocence and fighting their way through Akuma, being led into a world that coexisted beside their own without ever knowing. Can they pull through this war between the Millennium Earl and the Black Order? Will they survive?
1. Chapter 1

**The Innocence of Our World**

**~CHAPTER 1~**

Ayano Tsui and Yumiko Amaya walked along the somewhat crowded streets of London, heading towards their favorite destination in the world; Bertrand's Book Emporium. People hustled around them, carrying briefcases, talking into cellphones, holding umbrellas that shielded them from the gentle rain, and doing various other things. Cars rolled through the streets, slower than usual as they navigated through the soaking streets.

Ayano twirled her umbrella and knocked Yumiko with it, grinning at her friend, who smirked back and returned the favor by whacking Ayano's red umbrella with her own neon green one. "One of these days, you're going to stop doing that so that I don't have to resist the temptation the whack you in the face with my umbrella," Yumiko joked.

"I'll stop smacking you with my umbrella the day it stops raining here for a few months." The two friends turned down a street, more of an alleyway really, but considered a street nevertheless.

Not many people usually traversed this path, mainly because there was always that one hobo who was always muttering incoherent words and sipping a large, tinted bottle with a faded label, only to be surprised when he found there was nothing within.

They walked down the street, their boots causing big splashes when they purposely stepped hard in in an effort to drench each other even more than they already were.

"Hey look, hottie at 12 o'clock," Ayano whispered to Yumiko and she looked at what Ayano was talking about, her eyes, bright, almost neon green in all honesty, piercing the three approaching men as she watched them intently.

"Which one of them?" she replied softly as they continued to draw closer to the trio. "The white haired one or the one with the long, dark hair?"

"No, not them," Ayano said, "The red haired man." The three men came to a halt in front of the two friends. The one Japanese-and-somewhat-feminine-looking one with long, dark hair opened his mouth to speak and then his dark blue eyes, almost black flickered to Yumiko, and he shut his mouth, as if nervous.

The red head grinned, his single green eye, the other of which was hidden behind a black eye patch, twinkled in mischief. "What's wrong Yuu? Cat got your tongue?"

The long haired man turned and grabbed the red haired man by his green scarf and snarled, "No, but if you don't shut up, you certainly won't have a tongue." Ayano and Yumiko began to laugh and the long haired man let go off the redhead's scarf.

The white haired boy smiled almost apologetically, his unusually gray eyes closing as he did so, bringing out the strange scar on his face.

The white haired man spoke, "Excuse me, but would you happen to know where we are? We, uh, got… lost."

Yumiko smiled, "No need to be embarrassed about it. London is a REALLY big city; it's easy to get lost around here. We still get lost from time to time. Where are you three headed to?"

The boy took out a folded piece of paper and unfolded it. He handed it to Yumiko, "Do you know where this place is?"

Yumiko smiled, "Well, what a coincidence! It seems we're headed to the same place."

"R-Really?"

Ayano nodded and smiled, "Yup! Why don't you three come with us?"

"Sure, thanks!" the white haired boy said with an elated grin. "Oh, I'm sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves," Yumiko said, laughing a little at that.

"I'm Yumiko Amaya and this is Ayano Tsui." The redhead grinned, something he obviously did often. "I'm Lavi Bookman, the longhaired samurai with the vicious temper is Yuu Kanda,"

"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that!" Kanda hissed, but Lavi only grinned and continued, "And the white haired short stack here is Allen Walker."

"Short stack!? Who the hell are you calling short stack!?" Lavi laughed and even Kanda smiled a little, "Obviously you moyashi, considering your smaller than a grain of rice."

Allen glared at Kanda and made a rude gesture; one you wouldn't usually consider doing to your grandmother. "So, shall we get walking?" Yumiko said and the three men nodded in agreement.

"By the way, the bookstore is thataway," Ayano said grinning, pointing to the entrance of the alleyway where Allen, Kanda, and Lavi had appeared at. "Damn it moyashi, I knew we shouldn't have let you have the map!"

Allen laughed sheepishly, "Sorry, I just got distracted by the smell of food." "Shocker," Lavi chimed in, and everyone began to laugh. Well, everyone except Kanda, but his version of laughter is a small smile, more of an upwards turn of the corners of his lips really.

They strode through the streets, marching through puddle after puddle that had collected on the cobblestone road, in the little indents between each piece of asymmetrical stone that had been cemented together.

A crisp wind started up, pushing the dark gray clouds above faster across the sky than they had before. Thunder began to rumble throughout the sky, and a flash of lightning would race through the clouds every now and then. "Great," Allen muttered, "More rain on the way."

Yumiko grinned, "Well, at least we aren't in the middle of a monsoon season in China or India." Allen paled at the mention of India and nodded. Ayano glanced at Lavi and saw an evil grin upon his face. He ever so slowly and carefully stretched an arm out from beneath his umbrella until he could almost touch Kanda's hair.

Just as he was about to grab Kanda's hair tie, the dark haired samurai whirled around and grabbed the redhead's wrist. "So help me God, you baka usagi, I will break your arms if you try that again."

Yumiko grinned at that and Lavi just smiled even wider. "C'mon Yuu, you've been threatening that for years and haven't done it yet." Kanda's eye twitched once, twice, three times.

Within seconds, he had the redhead in a headlock and was proceeding to cause him to turn a lovely shade of red that completely clashed with his hair. "Can't… breathe!" Lavi gasped, scrabbling at the air and Kanda's arm. Kanda let him go, satisfied with the near choking for now. Yumiko and Ayano began to laugh at the two; Kanda smirking in satisfaction and Lavi choking and gasping for air.

"Well, I guess it's a little late to point out that we're here," Ayano said with a chuckle and instantly, three heads shoot up and looked at the store they were in front of.

The store in front of them was ancient looking; the sign to the shop was hanging on by a hook and overall the outside made the bookstore seem abandoned. The wood on the outside was wearing out and the iron on the sign and what it was hanging from were rusted and very old. The three men stood there, confused. Lavi finally spoke up, "Are you sure this is the right place? I mean it's so old and… well… OLD!"

A man came out of the shop with his arms folded, "Haven't you EVER heard the phrase, 'don't judge a book by its cover?!'"

"Yeah, but we're not talking about a book."

"I know that you bumbling buffoon! You were talking about the shop! Don't just look at the front of the store and expect the same thing inside!"

"I already can tell what it looks like inside. It's old, dusty, and full of boring old books."

Yumiko and Ayano heard what Lavi said and both became irritated. Ayano started practically yelling at him, "You're such an idiot! Don't you get it?! That's why the shop looks this way! So people would understand that phrase!"

Yumiko put a hand on Ayano's shoulder, "Calm down. You can't stop stupidity. Besides he'll learn what that phrase means once he walks inside."

The man nods at Yumiko and Ayano, "Good thing you two are here. If I had to try to explain to this idiot any further I would have gone insane!"

"No problem! We love coming here anyway. Maybe we should show them inside so they can finally understand what we're talking about."

"Sounds good to me!"

Yumiko, Ayano, and the man led Allen, Kanda, and Lavi inside the store and what they saw made both Allen and Lavi's mouths fall agape. Kanda just stood there in his own way looking around in amazement.

To say that the building was simply _pretty_ or _elegant_ was a major understatement. It was like saying a Tyrannosaurus Rex was massive and somewhat frightening. It was like saying that ants were relatively efficient and good at finding food. It was like saying the Empire State Building is simply big.

The bookstore was posh. It was chic, stylish, swanky, elegant, and any other word in the Dictionaries and Thesauruses that could possibly sum the store up in a few words. The interior was brightly lit with little sconces, sculpted so that they resembled animals ranging from cats to elephants to whales, all hiding the bright light bulbs behind.

The walls were covered in tall, dark brown oak shelves; so many that you could barely see any part of the wall itself. They stretched up so high that a ladder was needed to reach the highest books, which were easily fifteen feet up. Books lined the shelves, ranging from ones that seemed no bigger than a hair to ones that took up the entire five foot section of the shelf.

Titles ranged from familiar English titles like _Oliver Twist_ to strange ones in foreign languages and codes that the five didn't recognize. Dark mahogany desks were placed approximately five feet away from the shelves, with high-backed pine chairs with soft red cushions, worn from the thousands of people that had sat upon them. In the center of the building, there was a staircase made of the same dark, stained oak that the shelves were made out of.

It started out going straight but then curled back around, forming a double staircase that led to the floor above, where a stained glass ceiling of Earth allowed light through, painting the shop a million colors. "Holy shit," Lavi said, finally able to get his mouth to shut and his voice to start working.

"That's a bit of an understatement," Allen said, gazing around open-mouthed. "Well," Kanda said, "Are we just going to stand around and admire the shop or are we going to start looking for that book?"

Lavi and Allen nodded, concentration and seriousness suddenly washing over their faces and they separated, Lavi going right, Allen going left. Kanda went up the stairs to inspect the floor above. Ayano turned to Yumiko, a broad smile on her face. "Should we help them?" She asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Might as well. After all, they'll probably need all the help that they can get." With a grin, the two friends split up, Yumiko going up the stairs to join Kanda and Ayano going right to aid Lavi in his search.

To help her find out what she needed to look out for Yumiko asked Kanda, "So what book are you looking for?"

"Some book called, _The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe_."

"Ah, I see. I don't believe I've read that one, so we'll just have to search until we find it." Yumiko went down a little bit a ways from Kanda and began looking. After about an hour or so of searching Yumiko yelled to Ayano, "Have you found it yet?!"

"Not yet! What about you?!"

"Nope!" As Yumiko went to the next column of books, she came across an old book that she knew quite well. It was an old fairytale book her father used to read to her and her brother. She took it from the shelf and examined the book. Yumiko never opened the book she just looked at the cover, her eyes became foggy.

The shopkeeper came up beside Yumiko, "Are you alright there?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. I'm fine." Yumiko quickly put the book back in its place and continued searching.

The shopkeeper looked at Yumiko confused, "I noticed that you always pick up that book when you come here… Why don't you ever just get it?"

"Well… Let's just say it brings up bad memories…"

As Yumiko put the book back on the shelf, Ayano slid up to Lavi and stretched up onto her tip toes so she could look over his shoulder. "What'cha lookin' for?" she said, head tilted to the side. "_The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe_," he said as he scanned the shelves, "But that might be a bit difficult considering how many books there are in here."

Ayano laughed, "And don't forget that it might not even be in English." Lavi grimaced, "I hadn't thought about that. Thankfully, between Kanda, Allen, and me, we cover a relatively broad range of languages."

"Oh really?" Ayano said with a grin, "Do you know any Swedish?" Lavi rolled his eyes a little and laughed, "Yes, despite the fact of that I'll probably never meet anyone that can speak it, unless I go to Sweden of course."

Ayano laughed, "Good point, good point. So, do mind if I help you search?" Lavi shook his head, "Not at all. Do you mind getting the top shelves" Ayano grinned and thrust her hand in the hand, making a thumbs-up gesture. "Leave it to me!" She said and scaled up the ladder, nimble as a monkey.

Yumiko smacked her hand onto her forehead, realizing something, "Duh!" She turned to the shopkeeper, "Do you have the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe book?"

"That's what you were looking for? Okay, come with me." Yumiko and Kanda followed the shopkeeper to the other side of the second floor and the bookcase that sat with its side against the wall. He searched down the shelf and finally took out an incredibly thick book.

He handed it to Yumiko and before she could get a proper grip on the book the shopkeeper let go of the book and it fell from her hands to the ground with a loud THUD! The book had fallen open and papers scattered on the floor. Yumiko quickly began to pick up the papers and noticed that they all seemed to be some sort of map. She picked several up and examined them, "Huh."

The shopkeeper looked at her curiously, "What is it? Are they not pages from the book?"

"They're not from the book at all… They're maps. How odd. Why are maps in a book of poems and short stories filled with riddles?"

The shopkeeper shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure…" Kanda appeared at Yumiko's shoulder, seemingly out of thin air. He peered down at the scraps of paper that Yumiko had collected and the ones that were still in the book. "… Jesus how many maps did that Finder need to make?" he said, shaking his head in wonder.

"Allen, Lavi, Ayano, come here," he called downstairs to where the three persons mentioned were. Within moments they joined Yumiko, Kanda, and the shopkeeper upstairs. "Well, that certainly is a lot of maps," Allen said, staring down at the five-hundred-plus pages, although many seemed to make a larger map. "Soooo, should we begin the search then?" Lavi said, face serious for once as he looked to his two companions.

Allen shot a warning glance at the shopkeeper and the two girls. The shopkeeper did not appear to notice however as he bid them a farewell a few moments later and wandered back downstairs, where another customer had entered the shop.

"Search for what exactly?" Ayano inquired, head tilted slightly to the right, dark brown eyes piercing the three men in turn. Yumiko nodded fiercely in agreement, neon green eyes wide and set in determination. "Are you grave robbers?" she asked, and it would have been funny if she hadn't had said it so seriously

Allen smiled and shook his head, "No, not grave robbers. Far from anything disgusting like that." He turned to his two companions. "Should we bring them along?" He asked in a soft voice that easily carried to the two women.

"Oi! Don't even bother asking them about whether or not we can come along because if you refuse, I'll tie you up and kick you three to the other side of the galaxy, and no matter what you say, we're coming." Yumiko said as forcefully and intimidatingly as she could, green eyes blazing with defiance. Ayano nodded in agreement, jaw set indetermination.

Kanda rolled his eyes, "Suit yourselves." He picked up the book and pushed all of the papers that had fallen out back in before handing it to Yumiko. Their fingers brushed ever so slightly, causing Yumiko to turn a little red and snatch the book out of Kanda's hand before she could go any redder. Ayano smirked as she watched; thinking to herself about what excellent jokes could spawn from that.

"Since we have so many maps, which place are we going to first?" Yumiko took out several of the maps from the book to see where some of the locations were, "How about this one? It's pretty close by." The map showed some place near Canterbury, "I think this is where some ruins are because if they weren't it would be crowded by the city and the civilians."

Kanda looked at the map closely, "So have any idea how to get to Canterbury? This map just shows how to get to the place once you reach Canterbury."

"Well I've only been there once… What about you, Ayano?"

"Well…" Ayano said slowly, "I have been there a few times. My cousin lives there; I went to visit him twice for a week or so last year." Everybody grinned, "Excellent," Lavi said, "Just the luck we needed." Ayano just grinned, cheeks going a little pink at the compliment. "So then," she said, whirling around suddenly, "Shall we head back to our apartment, grab some stuff to take, sleep, and leave first thing in the morning?"

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Why not leave now?" Ayano turned back to them and grinned, "Because it's nearly eight o'clock and I'm relatively sure the last ride we can get for the train there was at eight. But the first one in the morning is at about six thirty." Lavi blinked, "Wait… we can just take the train?" Ayano nodded, "Of course. Did you think I drove there?" Ayano and Yumiko grinned, "Now come on, let's get back to the apartment and get ready!"

Nods and murmurs of agreement followed and the five new companions trooped down the stairs, out of the shop, and down the street to their destination, six blocks away, ten stories up, and three doors down the hall to the left.

As they went into the apartment Lavi, Allen, and Kanda noticed that it was a little small. Ayano spoke, "So this is our lovely apartment. There are two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen, and the living room. You three will be sleeping in the living room. Oh, and if you want to see the view we have a balcony." They all decided to go to bed early so they wouldn't be too overly tired when they travelled in the morning.

Yumiko left to her room and Ayano left to her room. Kanda, Lavi, and Allen got situated and quickly fell asleep. Yumiko was the last of all to find her way to the world of dreams. She knew, however, that she would be joining everyone with their pleasant dreams instead she would once again fall into the terrible abyss that was a nightmare. Soon she found herself falling once again into that solitary abyss.

_Yumiko opened her eyes and found that she was in a hallway. The only door was the one at the end. There wasn't even a door behind her. She walked down the straight walkway. She saw paintings appear on the walls, all of them horrifying. She averted her eyes away from the grotesque and horror-like paintings and looked at the door. The door creaked open and Yumiko heard a voice coming from the room beyond the door. "Yumiko! Help me!" Her eyes widened as she recognized the voice._

"_Kalon! Is that you?! I'm coming!" Yumiko ran as fast as her legs could go. When she reached the door, she jerked it open searched for her brother. A light shone down in the middle of the room. She saw Kalon sitting limp in an unstable wooden chair. She walked up to him, "Are you alright?!" Yumiko saw Kalon's head jerk in several directions and when her brother looked at her Yumiko screamed and fell back. There were no eyes in their sockets just blood running down from the empty holes. His body was beaten and bruised. _

_Kalon's voice was crackly and raspy, "Sister… Why did you… Let me die in that hospital…?" His body fell from the chair, his body fell to the floor, and blood splattered upon the white tiled ground. His head bent up and looked at Yumiko. Kalon's arm slowly reached out for his sister. Tears slipped down Yumiko's cheeks and before Kalon reached her, the floor beneath her opened and she fell into darkness. _

_The next thing Yumiko saw was that she was in a car. She tried moving her body but it was restrained to the seat. In the other seats she saw her family smiling and laughing. She knew what was going to happen so she yelled out to them, "Stop! Slam on the breaks!" Her family didn't hear her. To them her voice was nonexistent and within seconds another car slammed into their car. As the car rolled, the space around her turned to black again. Now in front of her were three scenes. Each of them were one of her family members dying as she saw the day when they truly died. When the videos were over they turned like cards until they took shape of people. _

_Yumiko gasped, in front of her she saw three bodies fall to the ground practically lifeless. As one head jerked up, she recognized who each person was. The first was her mother, the second was her father, and the last was Kalon. They were all in the same condition she had seen Kalon in earlier. She could no longer control her tears and she fell to her knees. Her family inched towards her and when they got close enough to her the jumped like snakes catching their prey. Yumiko screamed as she was taken down by her family._

Yumiko jumped awake, her hand on her chest. Sweat trickled down her face and she looked around and saw that she was in her own room. She let out a shaky sigh of relief. Slowly she got up and walked over to the mirror. When she saw her reflection Yumiko jumped back. She saw herself as if her family had ripped out her eyes and had beaten her.

She blinked and saw her regular self in the mirror. She breathed heavily and walked outside her room. She shook all over and walked to the balcony. She tried to make as little noise as she could. Yumiko stared out into the dark night sky, with stars cascading overhead.

Kanda's eyes snapped open, automatically reaching for his sword as his dark eyes tracked the shadow as it moved across the room, walking quietly and quickly. The form seemed to be shaking, so much that Kanda thought it might shake itself to pieces. A strange thing for an Akuma to do but then again, you never knew.

The figure passed in front of the curtains in front of the sliding glass doors and stopped, reaching out a hand and tugging the door open before stepping out into the warm night hair. As the figure turned, Kanda realized that it was no Akuma; it was simply Yumiko. What she was doing up, he had no idea, so he slowly stood and picked his way across the room, stepping out onto the balcony with her.

At first she didn't notice, not until Kanda leaned up against the railing and looked up at the sky. "Bad dream?" He said gruffly, making a point to not look at her so that she wouldn't feel embarrassed or anything. Yumiko rubbed her hands along her arms and when she spoke her voice wavered ever so slightly. "…Yeah…" Silence wrapped back around them as neither of them spoke for a long, long time.

Finally, Kanda straightened back up and stretched his arms out. "Well, good night then," Kanda said, almost a little awkwardly. Yumiko turned to him slightly and her eyes opened wide as Kanda wrapped an arm around her, almost timidly, as if she was immensely breakable and he could shatter her with a touch. Without another word, he vanished inside, quietly sliding the door back into place. When Yumiko turned back to face the night sky, clear of clouds for the first time all week, a smile was on her face, and the sadness was leaving her eyes until the next time the nightmares paid a visit.

"Morning~" Ayano called out as she more or less skipped into the living room-kitchen combination, nearly tripping over a still sleeping Allen and almost stepping on Lavi's hand. "Sorry, sorry!" She said with a grin and small laugh, her voice instantly dropping so that she didn't wake the small white-haired teen. She practically danced into the kitchen, bobbing her head to an unknown beat, mouthing the words to some song.

Lavi and Kanda's heads turned when they heard Yumiko's door creak open, revealing an extremely messy-haired, deep-circled eyed Yumiko, who had a neon green blanket with black zigzags on it wrapped around her. She stopped and looked at the two men, blinking blearily in the pre-dawn sunlight. "Wha…?" She mumbled, before crossing the room with slow, lumbering steps, and throwing herself onto the couch face-first.

"Oi!" Ayano yelled, "Up and at 'em, it's time for another grand day!" Allen suddenly shot up, "Krory no, please don't suck my blood! I'm too young to die! Oh…" Everyone who was conscious laughed while Yumiko just groaned and pulled the blanket over her head.

"Oh no you don't!" Ayano said forcefully, striding over to her friend and yanking the covers back, "You will wake up, eat your Pop tart, drink your milk, and get ready or I will hang you upside down from the balcony." Yumiko rolled over, opened one eye, and gave her friend the death glare. Ayano smirked back, unfazed. With a sigh, Yumiko got up and trudged over to the tiny counter, where Kanda, Lavi, and Allen were already digging in.

"Um, Ayano, do you think I could have like, forty more packs of these?" Ayano's eye twitched ever so slightly. "Allen… I'm pretty sure we don't have that many."

Yumiko ate her breakfast and slowly moved to get ready for the trip. When they were all ready to go, Allen saw that Yumiko looked still looked like she didn't sleep at all and he became worried, "Yumiko, are you okay?" Yumiko nodded but didn't convince Allen. "You look like you didn't get any sleep."

"It's alright. I'll be fine."

Ayano peered at Yumiko, "Hmm, you know what'll fix you right up?" She said with a grin before producing a large travel mug from behind her back. "Since you're always like the walking dead when it comes to getting up early, I figured you could use some." Yumiko's eyes lit up and she snatched the coffee cup from Ayano.

"Frappuccino?"

"Of course."

"Two sugars?"

"As always."

"A teaspoon of cream?"

"You bet your bottom dollar."

"A teaspoon of vanilla?"

"Naturally."

"A tablespoon of arsenic?"

"But of course!"

The two friends laughed, obviously used to this exchange while the three men exchanged dumbfounded looks. Listening to them had been like watching a rapid-fire tennis match, but with words instead of tennis balls. Ayano pivoted, arm flying up into the air to a ninety degree position with her pointer finger up. "Let's mobilize!" She commanded, and proceeded to march out of the door. Lavi chuckled and shoot his head. Kanda simply made a "Tch," sound. Allen just smiled. Yumiko simply sipped her Frappuccino in delighted bliss as they trooped out the door behind the obscenely energetic woman who led them.

**~Chapter 1: END~**

**And nau… for a short Afterword:**

_Hello, my name is Kiyohara. Not really but for you guys it is XD. Aaaanyways, thank you for reading our first chapter in _The Innocence of Our World_. I hope you can stomach the fangirlyness to come. Mwahahahahahahahaha! Anyways, I am Ayano in this story. And I hope your enjoying this story so far. It would really make my existence if you were to possibly, ya know, take a few moments to write a review… or to favorite or follow this… Just one little click? :3 I will give you an Internet llama if you do so!_

**Hi, my name is Xandra. At least that's my alias but anyways, I just wanted to thank you for reading our story! It means a lot! Kiyohara basically summed up all the things I wanted to say XD. Any reviews, followers, and/or favorites are always welcome and appreciated. Please be nice with the reviews though. Please! Thanks again!**

**DISCLAIMER:**

Kiyohara and Xandra do not own anything but this account, this story, their aliases, their characters, the Innocence that they shalt use, and the general plot of the storm. WE DO NOT OWN D. GRAY-MAN (unfortunately), nor do we own LAVI, KANDA, ALLEN, OR ANY OTHER CHARACTERS THAT ARE MENTIONED! THANK YOU FOR READING, HAVE A GOOD DAY SIRS AND LADIES!


	2. Chapter 2

**The Innocence of Our World**

**-Chapter 2-**

* * *

Yumiko sipped her coffee, slightly becoming more awake. Her nightmares caused Yumiko to have an extremely hard time fully waking up. Without much conversation, except for Lavi and Ayano, they finally reached the train station, got their tickets, and waited for the train. Yumiko kept quiet, consumed in thought. She couldn't get her mind off of her dream. _'Usually they never last that long… And they're NEVER that vivid…'_

As she thought more and more deeply about her nightmare, scenes of it flashed through her mind. The train came in sight and they prepared to board the train once it reached the station. Yumiko up and when she took a step forward she staggered forward and into Kanda. Yumiko gasped, "I'm so sorry! I just don't know what's wrong with me today…"

Ayano glanced at Yumiko, studying her carefully. She recognized how her friend was acting. It had gotten better as time had gone by; Yumiko no longer screamed almost every night as she finally managed to rip herself from her nightmares, but Ayano knew she was still haunted by them. Even though she was her best friend, Yumiko didn't really talk to her about them. Whatever they were about, they must be absolutely terrible.

She sighed and turned back to Lavi. She would talk to Yumiko later, when she got a chance. Lavi grinned, "So, you like fiction books huh? Understandably, since those are usually the best, but sometimes I just can't stand them." Ayano blinked, "Why not?"

Lavi shrugged, "I just don't like how they lure you into a false sense of security, making you think your world is like that; nice and bright, with no dark secrets hidden in the shadows." He suddenly shut his mouth, a look on his face that clearly stated that he figured he had said too much.

Ayano opened her mouth to ask what exactly Lavi had meant by that, but before she got a chance, the train roared in, breaks screeching as the train slid to a halt. The doors slid open with a smooth hiss and one by one, the five walked onto the train and took their seats, the doors sliding shut behind them after a few moments. There were only a few people in the compartment; just an old balding man who was nodding off, a woman whose white blouse was stained with coffee on the sleeve, and an extremely old man who clutched a cane in his fragile, gnarled hands.

There weren't many seats available on the train but there were enough to seat the five comrades. Yumiko chose a seat next to the window. She turned her head and stared out the window. Ayano chose the seat across from Yumiko, Lavi sat next to Ayano, Kanda sat next to Yumiko, and Allen decided to sit next to Lavi fearing that if he were to sit next to Kanda he would be dead by the end of the train ride. Ayano and Lavi talked away, Kanda and Allen, even amidst all the noise, managed to catch up on some sleep. Yumiko just continued to stare out the window, watching as the train zoomed past many things. Eventually she dozed off into an unwanted slumber.

Yumiko jerked awake, breathing heavily. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at her reflection in the window. Once she saw it Yumiko shut her eyes tight, it looked the same as it did that morning. As she opened them again her reflection looked like herself again. She refrained herself from shaking and let her head fall into her hands. Yumiko managed to calm herself down and she looked at her watch and saw that she had only been asleep for a half hour. She looked up and saw that Ayano was looking right at her, "Oh! I'm sorry if I woke you up."

Ayano shot a glance at her, its meaning clear. _We'll talk about this later._ It was a promise. She looked back at Lavi and smiled, and pulled something out of her pocket. It was small. It was blue. It was an IPod. Ayano passed him an ear bud and put the other in her ear, turning the device on and scrolling until she found a song and tapped the screen to play it. Kellin Quinn and the rest of _Sleeping with Sirens_ came on, the sound of guitars and Kellin's voice soared out of the ear buds.

"_The hardest thing I'd ever do_

_Is say goodbye and walk slowly away from you_

_But I'll do it_

_And after all this time I shared with you_

_It seems unfair to leave with nothing more than blank stares_

_But I'll do it_

_If it's for the best then I wish you well_

_If it helps to say our life was a living hell_

_Well then do it_

_Then do it_

_Then do it_

_Don't you ever forget about me_

_When you toss and turn in your sleep_

_I hope it's because you can't stop think about_

_The reasons why you close your eyes_

_I haunt your dreams at night_

_So you can't stop thinking about me_

_Don't stop thinking about me_

_Don't stop thinking about me."_

Ayano bobbed her head along the sound, occasionally pointing across the aisle to Yumiko and mouthing the words. Yumiko just shook her head tiredly and smiled a little.

Lavi failed to notice but Ayano saw the subtle way Yumiko had tried to shift away from Kanda. The way she was wringing her hands nervously, digging her fingernails into her hands to prevent the tears or screams that Ayano knew she was holding back. Inside, Ayano grimaced. When would the demons of her friend's past stop haunting her? Would they stop haunting her?

Yumiko looked at Allen, then Kanda. They were sleeping so peacefully. Seeing them so calm and serene brought some peace to Yumiko's heart, even if it was just for a little bit. She didn't dare to fall asleep again so she started thinking. At first she thought about the journey but soon her thoughts soon fell once again to her nightmares. She let out a deep breath. She wondered why her mind always wandered off to her nightmares. She hated thinking about them but for some reason she always did.

The train came to a slow screeching stop and both Allen and Kanda woke up somewhat surprised. Allen asked, "Did I really sleep the whole trip?"

Yumiko smiled lightly, "It seems you did."

The five piled off of the train, stretching stiff, and in two cases, sleep-filled muscles out, breathing in the fresh, clean air of what some might call country air. The small city was relatively laid back, especially compared to the hustle of London. Tall green grass surrounding the city waved gently in the early morning breeze, and small, fluffy white clouds quickly scudded across the otherwise clear blue expanse above. A relatively large forest grew off to the west, closer to the train station that the city itself, filled with karamu, lancewood, and other things that grew around Canterbury.

"I'm guessing we should take a look at that map then." Ayano said once the train had departed, rumbling away towards its next destination. Nods of agreement followed and after a few moments, Allen and Lavi were holding two sides of the map apiece while the other three inspected it.

"So are there any particular symbols we're supposed to be looking for?" Yumiko asked, eyebrows furrowed as she stared intently at the map. "Yes," Kanda said, "A four pointed star; it should be inked in either silver or gold ink."

Allen and Lavi looked shocked. "Yuu, I do believe that's the first sentence you've ever uttered that didn't sound like you were about to murder the other person!" Lavi said. Kanda's head snapped up and he glared at Lavi, who grinned but shut his mouth all the same. Yumiko and Ayano looked at each other from behind Kanda's back, grins splashed upon their faces.

They turned back to the map and searched from corner to corner. "Oh, here it is!" Ayano poked the map gently in Column 3, Row 17. There was a city, blown up slightly so that they could see the thin outlines of buildings, and in the very center of the town, a silver four-pointed star. Lavi peered around the map, his head just above Ayano's, while Allen did the same, only it was Yumiko's head he was above.

"Hmm," Lavi said after a moment. "Based on the scale at the bottom, it should be about an hour walk." More than one face dropped at that comment. "Well," Yumiko said after a moment, "Let's get going! No time to waste!" Her voice was just a little too bright, a little too forced. Ayano narrowed her eyes but nodded. "Um, guys. Do you think it might be possible to get something to eat? I'm _starving._"

Allen's gray eyes were wide, hands clasped together as he begged. A giant roar split the air and Ayano and Yumiko whirled around, looking for the wild animal that had made the sound. Lavi began to laugh, "Don't worry Aya, Yumi, the only animal here is Allen's stomach."

Said white haired boy grinned almost sheepishly. "What can I say? Man does not live on one Pop tart alone." Ayano and Yumiko looked at each other. "Um, sure, we can get something," Yumiko finally said. "But I'm not sure we have enough money for everyone…" Ayano continued. Allen grinned, "No worries, I've got this handled."

* * *

The five ended up going to a large buffet. When everybody sat down with their food, Yumiko and Ayano had wide eyes as they saw how much food Allen had grabbed to eat. Ayano asked him, "Are you sure you can eat all that?! That's an insane amount of food!"

Allen waved his hand at them, "I'll be done with this food in no time!"

Allen had 20 plates of food for himself, Lavi had about four plates of food, Ayano had about two plates, Kanda had a bowl of Soba, and Yumiko had a small plate of food. Ayano looked at Yumiko's plate with a _'what in the world'_ look, "Yumiko I thought you would've been more like Allen over there with 20 plates full of food."

Yumiko lightly waved her hand at Ayano and smiled, "I'm just not that hungry. That's all."

Ayano sighed and put her fingers to her temples and massaged them gently, trying to suppress a building headache. Then she looked up at Yumiko and mouthed, _'We will talk about this later.'_ Yumiko only adverted her eyes to her plate and started eating slowly.

A glance at Allen revealed that he had already worked through his first six plates, and he was almost done with his seventh. Lavi looked at Ayano, his chopsticks locked firmly in between his teeth. He grinned and with great speed and stealth, whipped his chopsticks out of his mouth, reached over to her plate, and stole a piece of chicken, popping it into his mouth before she could even say _'what the hell!?'_.

Kanda just made his normal _'Tch_' sound. "Yuu, you're such a lemon," Lavi said and everyone managed to crack a grin. "If you don't stop calling me Yuu, you baka usagi, I will ram this chopstick so far down your throat I'll pierce your kidneys."

After Allen finished eating most of the food in the buffet they went on with their search. They ended up travelling into a forest. The five all walked calmly but after walking for a while Yumiko noticed that Kanda seemed on edge. His hand was on the hilt of his sword. Yumiko looked at him concerned, "A-Are you alright?"

He nodded, lips pressed tight together, "Yeah, just a force of habit." The conversation dropped there, and silence fell upon the group as they travelled. The three men seemed to get a little tenser with every minute that passed. Glances were periodically thrown over shoulders, as if they were checking for pursuers. Any slight noise caused at least one of them to whip around, hands reaching for one weapon or another.

There were several times when Kanda about sliced up various animals and one or two occasions when Lavi whipped out a tiny, palm-sized hammer, before realizing the threat was nothing more than an innocent rabbit or dear wandering through their forest. "So, what exactly are you guys looking for?" Ayano said after a while, so bored that the word bored did not even begin to explain the tedium she felt. The three men glanced at each other and kind of shrugged in a what-the-hell kind of way.

"Innocence," Allen said. "Innocence? As in the thing that children supposedly have before they get older?" Yumiko inquired. "Or Innocence as in the innocence you have before you witness a violent crime?" Yumiko rolled her eyes, albeit a little half-heartedly. "Only _you_ would say that Aya." Ayano just grinned like a maniac.

"No, Innocence as in little shards or cubes that looks like they are made of crystal, but glowing. These pieces of Innocence contain special… _powers, _if that is what you want to call them. They can cause strange things to happen with the environment, animals, people, and more." Lavi explained. "This Innocence has given us certain abilities in order to combat the evil that lurks within the darkest shadows of this world," Allen said, his voice grim and grave.

"Evil?" Ayano asked, but the men said no more, not for the moment at least.

* * *

At last the ruins came into view and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Allen stretched, "Why don't we take a break for a little bit and rest our feet?"

Lavi quickly agreed, "Sounds like a plan!" Lavi plopped down on the ground and let out a deep relaxed breath. Ayano joined him and within seconds everyone but Yumiko were sitting on the ground.

Ayano peered at Yumiko, "Don't you want to get off your feet even for a little bit?"

"Something just doesn't feel right…"

"What do you mean?"

"I've had the feeling for a while now. Like something has been following us…" Yumiko looked at the ruins, "And I bet you that whatever is following us is after the same thing that we're after." She leaned against a tree and kept her gaze upon the ruins. Silence fell over them; an eerie silence.

Out of nowhere they five heard loud crashes. Somewhere close trees were being broken and falling… Fast! Yumiko tried to turn her head to see where the crashing sounds were coming from only to find an obscenely large gun pointed to her head. Allen yelled, "Yumiko!" Kanda drew his sword ready to kill the monster with one swing. Yumiko slowly held a hand up telling them to stop the attack and wait.

"Wait until I say to attack." Yumiko let of a deep breath and with the utmost speed, jumped up and back into a handspring and got to her feet. Bullets started flying and Yumiko dodged them by flipping in the air, "NOW, while I've got its attention!" Kanda drew his sword and ran at the humongous monster. With one swing of the sword the beast was cut in half and it dissipated into the air.

Yumiko turned her head hurriedly to the others, "We have to get moving. More of those creatures may already be on their way here." They all just nodded, still somewhat dumbstruck by the speed that everything had just happened. Yumiko started running in the direction of the ruins, Kanda followed behind her, and Ayano, Lavi, and Allen followed quickly behind them by a few steps.

Ayano looked at Lavi, "Wanna explain what those things are?"

"Sure. Those things are called Akuma. They are monsters created by the Millennium Earl. He creates them by using someone who has lost a loved one and is grieving. He promises to bring them back and when they are called back by the grieving person, the dead one's soul is put into a dark matter skeleton. Then the Earl orders the skeleton to take the body of the grieving person and thus an Akuma is created. The Earl controls them all and has created an army of them."

"Wow… That's nuts!"

"Tell me about it."

The ruins became closer and closer into view and before they knew it they all had reached the ruins. The slowed down to a walk and examined the area they were in. Yumiko pulled out the map and examined where to find the Innocence. She looked up, "So… If we go this way…" She looked back and saw everyone sitting down catching their breath. Yumiko then noticed that she too was feeling quite fatigued, "Alright let's take a breather but we have to make it quick. Those Akuma probably aren't too far off. It would probably be good if we made a plan as well. You know if we get separated and have to find the Innocence or regroup. We need to make up a meeting place so if we need to regroup or find each other, we just need to find a good place…"

Ayano thought more and more about the Akuma, "We also need more information on the Akuma, meaning Yumiko and I. So what are their weaknesses?"

Allen said with all seriousness, "The only way to kill Akuma is Innocence."

"Huh? That makes no sense! Kanda over there killed the one back there with only a swing of his sword!"

"Yeah but his sword is made of innocence."

"Really? Do you or Lavi have innocence as well?"

"Yes."

"What are they?"

"Well my arm is my innocence."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up there. What do you mean your arm is your innocence?" Ayano raised an eyebrow. Allen activated his innocence and his arm became a large claw. Ayano's mouth dropped, "You'll have to explain to me, what's up with your arm later. So Lavi, what's your innocence?"

Lavi brought out a small hammer and it enlarged it into an incredibly larger version. Ayano clapped, "That's so cool!"

"Just wait till you see it in action!"

Yumiko took the moment to interrupt, "Okay! We see what you three's innocence is! Can we please get back to strategizing?"

Ayano finally got serious again, "Alright. There's a slight problem-"

"Yes I know we don't have innocence. We can do reconnaissance. In fact we can all do a little bit. What we'll do is four of us will find all the possible entrances to this place. We just need to watch out for those Akuma. The fifth one will search out the innocence. These ruins are pretty big, so we'll need someone fast and light on their feet." Yumiko then noticed that they were all looking at her, "What?"

Lavi pointed at her, "You should search out the innocence."

"Why me?"

"Do you even remember when that Akuma had you at gun point?!"

"Yes."

"You did all those flips and somehow evaded all the bullets that Akuma shot at you. That's shows you're light on your feet. Then when we were running over here, while we all stopped to rest you were already ready to keep moving. That means you have speed and endurance."

"Are you sure? I could get lost or worst of all not find the innocence at all."

"Then keep the map with you."

"What about you guys? Won't you need the map?"

"We can find our way to the meeting spot by the rooftops."

"Alright so that settles that. Now we need to find a good hiding/meeting up place."

For a while they searched around the ruins and finally stumbled upon a nice sturdy place, it even had a roof. Although it was sturdy, enough force could bring the whole place crashing down. Once the five had all gotten prepared they separated. While the sun was still shining Yumiko took some time to examine the map thoroughly and began investigating. Ayano, Lavi, Kanda, and Allen all began searching out the entrances. Eventually they had found all four of them. Luckily each entrance had a place to stay hidden but also allow them to watch out for the Akuma. Before the four watchers completely separated they made up a warning call to warn each other that Akuma had approached. They made a plan that the one furthest from the Akuma sighting would go, find Yumiko and warn her.

It got dark, fast. The night was closing in and there were no sign of the Akuma but all five of the comrades figured that the Akuma would strike during the night. It made it an easy place for the enemies to hide but then again it made it even easier for them to hide considering they were smaller than the Akuma.

* * *

Ayano sighed, her breath whistling softly out as she peered into the depths of the night, watching, waiting. Why she was waiting, she would never know, especially considering since she had no weapons, but it didn't really matter. After all, Lavi had told her before they had separated that the Akuma were more likely to go after Allen, Kanda, or himself since they wielded Innocence and she did not. But there was always that chance. That ever so slim chance. Ayano shifted slightly, her legs aching from sitting on the balls of her feet for the last ten or fifteen minutes. She stood slowly, stretching one leg out, then the other, working out the stiffness that had entered her muscles. She slid back up against the wall and leaned against it. And now, the waiting truly began.

* * *

Lavi lay on his stomach on top of a building, directly in front of his assigned entrance. Occasionally, he would get up and walk around the perimeter of the building, looking in every direction, including up. His hand was constantly on his hammer, ready to whip it out of its holster in the blink of an eye if need be. If he looked hard enough, he could just barely make Ayano out by the wall, only able to see her because of the waxing half-moon that still had yet to reach its zenith in the sky. He sighed. Sometimes, waiting was the most boring part. Sure, the Akuma could appear at any time but it was still so boring. He let his solitary emerald green eye sweep the area he was covering once more, searching for what seemed like the millionth time.

* * *

Kanda stood, oddly tensed yet relaxed at the same time, his shoulders squared and stiff, feet shoulder-width apart, and Mugen held in his right hand. Anyone else would have stopped standing a while ago, but Kanda was stubborn, hard-headed, and as Lavi said, had his own personal crazy train. But despite years of training and focus, he still found his mind wandering. Wandering to a certain subject in particular. A certain female to be exact. He sighed and clenched his hand on Mugen. _'Get back on task,'_ he thought to himself, _'No time to be distracted.'_ The wind began to pick up, whistling through the trees gently, rustling the summer leaves on the trees.

* * *

Allen yawned. He wished he had food. Lots and lots and lots of food. He had eaten his last granola bar an hour earlier. He was half tempted to sneak off, grab a small mammal, and possibly even eat it raw. He shook that thought off; how _disgusting_. Thankfully, he had been brought up better than that. And he knew better than to light a fire. That would draw in the Akuma like moths to a light; immediately and almost unconsciously. Except moths didn't go around shooting dark matter at people, attempting to kill them. And moths weren't the size of small hot air balloons. Nor did they have the souls of those lured in by the Millennium Earl within. Allen sighed and his stomach rumbled, sounding almost like a herd of stampeding buffalo, about ten thousand strong.

* * *

Yumiko let out a deep breath as she found another dead end. She even possibly wondered if there was some secret passage way underneath the ruins that led to the innocence. She shook the idea off knowing that it was nearly impossible for that to actually be. "Where is it? I need to find it as soon as possible! If this place wasn't so much like the world's most confusing maze it might be easier to find." She looked down at her map and tried to find where she was and found that she seemed to be rather close to the Innocence. Yumiko followed the map the best she could. Even if it meant climbing over high mounts of rubble and debris from when the structures fell in times past.

At last Yumiko finally reached the Innocence. She looked up from her map and smiled, "There you are." Yumiko calmly walked over to the innocence that was nearly hidden from sight. She wouldn't have been able to find it if she hadn't seen a shimmering light from one of the cracks in the stone. The Innocence was located under a cap of rock easily hiding it from normal people and of course Akuma. She removed the cap and the innocence let out its scintillating light. She lightly grabbed the innocence and began to walk back the way she came. _BOOM!_ Yumiko gasped; the Akuma had arrived.

* * *

Kanda jumped back and drew Mugen from its sheath. The wall that shielded him from sight had been blown away from an Akuma. He didn't bother to make the alerting sound because he knew that everyone in the ruins could hear the explosive sound. He ran at the Akuma and quickly cut into two pieces. "Oh good grief," Kanda said as he saw that there were dozens and Dozens of Akuma behind the first one that was slain.

When the first explosion went off, the other three watchers shot up and raced to the origin of the blast. Lavi reached it first, using his hammer to propel him forwards through the air. Once he was high enough, he brought his hammer over his head, shrinking it enough so that when he came arcing down, his hammer smashed through a dozen Akuma before he hit the ground. Allen appeared seconds later, Cross β activated, bolts of golden energy flying through the air. Ayano and Yumiko arrived together, hanging back by the buildings as they had no weapons to fight with.

They stared, slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the three men as they leapt through the air, sword, hammer, and energy bullets hitting the Akuma with a deadly accuracy. There was also something over Allen's left eye; a cogwheel-like monocle over his eye. Purple bullets, the opposite of Allen's, tore through the air, some coming dangerously close to the two girls. "Don't let the bullets touch you!" Lavi shouted over the sounds of the battle, and the girls backed up a little.

Yumiko looked down at the innocence, "They're after this…" Yumiko swiftly turned around and started to run, "Come on Ayano! We're no good to them here!"

Ayano ran after Yumiko, "But aren't we just going to cause them more trouble like this?"

"If we can take even a just a couple Akuma off their backs, then they'll be able to defeat them easier."

"But we don't have any weapons! We're just endangering ourselves!"

"They won't kill us… I'll make sure of that." Yumiko's eyes were looking straight ahead without much emotion. Five Akuma were hot on their trail. She thought to herself, 'Well they won't kill her. I'd rather the Akuma kill me than any of them.' Yumiko's foot caught on the edge of the cobblestone like ground. She remembered the innocence in her hands and before she could throw it to Ayano who kept running the innocence's case shattered from impact with the ground. Yumiko picked up the innocence and ran another direction from the direction Ayano was running, 'I can at least try to get most of them away from Ayano.'

Three of the five Akuma followed quickly after Yumiko. Yumiko ran as hard as she could until one of her biggest fears at that moment stopped her. It was a dead end. She turned around and backed up against the wall. She looked up at the Akuma who had their guns ready to fire at will. Simultaneously each of the Akuma guns glowed purple as they were about to fire. Yumiko covered her face with her arm and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Ayano looked back when she heard the scream, "Yumiko?!" When she saw that she wasn't behind her Ayano turned around, ignoring the Akuma, and ran back as fast as she could.

As Kanda, Lavi, and Allen finished with the enormous amount of Akuma they all heard Yumiko's scream. Kanda turned around and looked back towards the area that Ayano and Yumiko should have been at, "That was Yumiko! ... Oh great! They ran to distract some of the Akuma! No wonder it seemed like there were fewer enemies than before, but not by much. Come on we have to go find them!" Lavi and Allen nodded and they all ran to go find Yumiko and Ayano. They turned down different walkways and after turning down one last walkway in the not too far off distance they saw Ayano.

Lavi raised his hand and waved it to get Ayano's attention, "Ayano! Over here!"

Ayano ran up to them, "Have you guys found Yumiko yet?! The darn girl ran a different direction while I continued going the same direction we originally were going!"

"Unfortunately we haven't but we have to be close."

"We're going to have to get moving very soon. I still have Akuma on my tail."

Kanda seemed a tad nervous, "I don't hear her screaming nor do I hear any more gunshots… That better not mean…" Kanda ran, searching for Yumiko. Lavi, Ayano, and Allen followed. When they finally reached Yumiko they were all taken aback. Yumiko was completely shielded. They Akuma were just sitting there waiting for Yumiko to take away the shield. That's when they would start firing again. "Yumiko!" Kanda tried to keep himself from yelling to her but he couldn't.

Yumiko peeked from behind the shield but quickly put her head back down as the Akuma began firing again. Instead of just staying there and hiding Yumiko slowly stood with the shield still guarding her. Each bullet that hit the shield slightly pushed Yumiko back a couple steps but she still pressed onward. Her arm began to feel strained and the shield got heavier and heavier for her to carry. She dropped to her knees as the weight felt unbearable.

All of a sudden the shield began to dissolve and slowly surround Yumiko. She felt a light weight on her. It was so much lighter than the heavy shield. She looked down at her forearms and light armor wrapped around them but they opened up near the folds of her arms. Hearing another shot of the gun her head shot up and right before the bullet hit her she raised her arm in front of her face and the bullet deflected off of the armor.

Ayano, Lavi, Kanda, and Allen were all dumbstruck. What was going on? Allen was the first to realize what was happening, "That's the work of innocence!"

Yumiko saw that her friends were close and knew that they were in danger. She had to do something before they actually noticed that they were there. As she thought about protecting her friends she felt something form in her right hand. She looked at what was in her hand and it was a sword! A heavy duty sword like the ones knights used in the days of old. Now that she had protection and a weapon, she could protect her friends. She grasped her sword with both hands and ran at the Akuma with fire in her eyes.

Ayano felt that the two Akuma that had followed her had finally reached up. The Akuma had come so quickly that Ayano had no time to warn Lavi, Allen, or Kanda. "No!" The three boys quickly turned their heads and saw the Akuma. They had no time to get their weapons but out of nowhere a small orb flew through the air, hovering fifteen feet above Ayano before it exploded with an almost supernova-like force.

With a thump, a massive lion, easily the size of an Indian Elephant dropped down to the ground. Its mouth was bared in a snarl and then it roared, the noise almost deafening with the close proximity. The Akuma that were closest to the lion froze and shattered into pieces, the souls within free from their bonds. The lion hunched its muscles and darted forwards, massive jaw gaping, gargantuan claws flashing in the moonlight. "Ho. Ly. Shit." Lavi said, gaping at the behemoth lion that was leaping through the air, jumping up twenty, thirty, almost forty feet into the air to snag the Akuma.

Yumiko noticed the Akuma turning to go after Ayano and her new-found power, "Oh don't you dare!" Yumiko tightened her grip on the sword and attacked the Akuma. The Akuma turned their attention back to her. She swung her blade up and then back down diagonally, cutting one of the Akuma in half. An even bigger fire burned in her heart knowing that if she could get these Akuma off their backs then she could ease some of their stress.

Kanda drew his sword, "Lavi, Beansprout! What are we doing just standing here?! We have to help them!" He ran after the Akuma that were attacking Yumiko while Allen and Lavi helped Ayano.

As the Yumiko reached the third and final Akuma keeping her away from her friends and smirked, "You'll be sorry you ever came between me and my-" She gasped as the Akuma in front of her disappeared and she almost collided with Kanda, "Ah! Sorry!" Yumiko lowered her blade and shyly looked away.

Kanda looked at Yumiko, "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You look pale."

"I'm pretty sure." Yumiko took a couple steps towards her friends to make sure they were okay. She had a calm smile on her face and she reached out to them. Before she could reach them she slipped out of consciousness and fell to the ground. The last thing she could hear was Kanda calling out her name,

"Yumiko!"

They stayed at the rui

* * *

ns that night, finding a relatively habitable home and occupying it as they waited for the still unconscious Yumiko to wake up. Allen had broken out a deck of cards to pass the time, and he, Lavi, and Ayano were playing while Kanda alternated between watching for more Akuma and watching Yumiko. "So," Allen said as he dealt another set of cards. Lavi kept losing out but somehow Ayano managed to keep up with Allen, although whether she was cheating or not remained a mystery to both men.

"What exactly what that orb thing?" Ayano shrugged, "… It kind of looked like one of those marbles that I carry around. I bought them a couple months ago because I thought they were really cool." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small handful of the glass balls, which numbered at around fifteen. She poked through them for a moment, her brow furrowing as she continued looking through the marbles.

"Hmm, the lion one isn't here anymore…" She said, confused. Lavi grinned, "Perhaps that is what your Innocence is! Who knows what else you can do with it." Ayano smiled, "I certainly hope I don't have to buy more; they were kind of expensive." Ayano put the marbles back into her pocket and looked at her cards; an ace and a ten, an excellent combination in the game of Blackjack.

"If mine uses these marbles, then Yumiko's obviously has something to do with alternate dimensions, weapons, and gods knows else." Allen and Lavi smiled at that and Kanda just nodded in agreement. Ayano wondered if it would kill him to say more than five words every now and then. "How long are we staying?" Kanda asked, his typically perpetual frown on his face, although worry seemed to line his face too.

"Probably until morning, or until Yumiko wakes up," Allen said with a shrug, "I'd rather not have to move her while she's unconscious; it might hurt her." Kanda nodded and went back to staring out the window. Or at Yumiko. From his position he had a perfect view of both.

Once again Yumiko was having a vivid nightmare. After about an hour of gory terrors Yumiko jumped awake with a gasp. Everyone's heads shot up from what they were doing when they heard Yumiko's gasp. She let out a deep breath and smiled the best she could, "Hello everyone… What is this?" Yumiko examined the armor on her arms, torso, and legs.

Allen said it quite bluntly, "Innocence. It seems that both you and Ayano got innocence."

"Erm… So how exactly do I get rid of this stuff?" Yumiko said, staring at the armor and poking pieces of it occasionally. "Tell your Innocence to deactivate. It doesn't have to be out loud," Kanda said, glancing at her for a moment before turning his head back to the window. Yumiko nodded and closed her eyes, brow furrowing slightly. Within moments, her armor began to glow a pale green until you could barely see the armor, and then it sank into her flesh, disappearing without a sound. Yumiko cracked an eye, "Well then, what exactly is this supposed to mean" The three men looked at each other. "It means you two may join the Black Order and become Exorcists like us."

* * *

**-Chapter 2: END-**

**Ahhh, another chapter, another sense of relief that we finally finished! Kiyohara here, just to tell you that the song you were 'listening' to was **_**'Don't You Ever Forget About Me' **_**by Sleeping With Sirens (Best. Band. EVER.) Aaaanyways, thank you for reading the second chapter of **_**The Innocence of Our World**_**, and please return for more! Reviews are always appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Innocence of Our World**

**-Chapter 3-**

* * *

Yumiko looked at her hand, "Exorcists, huh…" She thought about the idea of becoming an exorcist. She didn't know much about what Allen, Kanda, and Lavi did as exorcists but she knew it may give her the chance to forget about her nightmares for once, even though she knew they would come back during the night. Yumiko stood up, "If you don't mind, before we leave, if I may go and have a better look around…"

As she walked out of the room her thoughts drifted to her brother's death. When she thought she was a good enough distance from the area they were staying at she ran. Yumiko remembered a fountain near the middle of the ruins that was somehow still filled with water. That's where she ran to. As she reached the fountain, she sat down at the base of the somewhat eroded fountain.

After a few minutes, Yumiko heard footsteps but didn't look up; she knew it was Ayano. Ayano came and sat by Yumiko, on top of the lip just above the fountain, throwing her shoes off and sticking her bare feet into the cool water, a relief from the relatively humid night. Ayano looked up at the night sky, where the waxing gibbous hung overhead, surrounded by a plethora of stars. They were silent for several minutes before Ayano spoke.

"Yumiko… Don't lie to me now when I ask you this. Are your nightmares coming back?" She twisted her body so that she could look her friend in the eyes, but Yumiko had her head on top of her knees, not looking at her. Yumiko was silent for a long time, so long that Ayano thought she might not respond. "Yes…" Ayano nodded grimly. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here, just like I always am. I'll listen and I won't judge. So will you tell me what exactly is troubling you so much?"

"It's a sad story. I don't remember if I ever told you what happened to my family. We were all in a terrible unforgiving car wreck. The people in the other car, I was told, died immediately. My family and I were hospitalized. I had the least wounds and was let out pretty soon. My family though was less fortunate. I visited them constantly after I was let out of the hospital and eventually each one of them died and I witnessed each… and every… one… That memory has plagued me with awful nightmares that I feel will never let me go.

"Whether it's my family with horrifying features like no eyes with blood streaming from them and bruises all over the arms and legs… They always ask me, 'Why didn't you save me? Why did you let me die in that hospital?' I would say, 'No, I didn't mean for you to die! I didn't want you to die!' Or I would just stay silent, unable to answer them…

"One nightmare I've had several times I would see my brother sitting in a chair with his head bowed like he was dead. I would run to him but when he would look up at me and I would fall trying to get away because it was so frightening. His body would limply fall out of the chair and would crawl towards me… Saying the same questions with a raspy and horrid sound as he spoke. His body would twist and crack, like a possessed mannequin. Before he would reach me I would fall and be forced to re-watch that crash.

"I would be in the car with them… I would try to tell them to stop… To slam the brakes… But they couldn't hear me… They just kept going… Sooner or later I would find myself jolting awake, shaking and wanted to just crawl into a corner and cry… I never did though. I kept it inside… I still have it, locked away in a bottle floating around in a sea of thought."

Ayano sat in silence by Yumiko for a few moments. She could hear the silent, choked sobs that occasionally escaped Yumiko's lips as her friend tried to hold herself together, tried to stay strong. Ayano swung around and sat down next to Yumiko and put her arm around her friend.

"They say time heals," she said softly, her eyes shimmering but no tears escaped. "They always say time heals, but the people who say that are fucked up. They don't really know. Maybe one day the pain will lessen but until then, it's going to be here for a long time. I've been prying the fingers of my memories away for years but they're still there, and they will never go away.

"Still, you can't let yourself think it was entirely your fault. You couldn't save them; you didn't know. Besides, would your brother really want you to go on like this, living in pity and drowning in tears because of something you couldn't control? You did your best and I'll be damned if I let you go down a dark road." Yumiko nodded and sniffed, drying her eyes with a sleeve.

"Thanks Ayano…" she said after a moment. Ayano nodded and stood, turning back to her friend and holding a hand out, a grin on her face. "C'mon, you don't want the boys worrying now do you?" Yumiko gave a small smile, dried the rest of her tears, and allowed Ayano to pull her up and they walked back to the abandoned home. A silent agreement had passed between them; _I won't tell until you're ready._

* * *

Once Ayano and Yumiko got back to the abandoned house, Yumiko looked down at the three guys sitting on the hard floor. She put her hands on her hips ready to go, "So, when do you wanna head out?" Allen, Lavi, and Kanda looked up at her surprised. They hadn't expected to see her so pepped up after seeing her partially distraught expression when she left.

Allen put up his cards and got ready, "Well I guess we could leave right now if you're feeling up to it."

"I'm feeling ready for anything."

Later on into the next day they had finally reached the train station and just at the right time too. It was the first train to the city where the black order was located. Once they were on the train and seated, everyone plopped down onto their seats, exhausted from the long non-stop trek to the train station and could all use some well needed sleep. While everybody prepared to sleep Yumiko just sat in her seat and stared out the window.

Sometime later, when the sun was just beginning to set after reaching its zenith, the train slowly slid to a halt, the intercom announcing that they were at the Greenway Village Station. The five companions woke with a start and slowly and clumsily clambered and fell off of the train, half-asleep still. Lavi yawned, mouth stretching wide as he stretched his arms. The others followed in suit, the cursed contagious yawns afflicting them all. "Alright, how do we get to wherever we're headed from here?" Ayano asked, scratching her head and staring at the little town. Allen pulled out his wallet, "We rent a car obviously."

Yumiko raised an eyebrow, "And who might be driving?" Kanda smirked, "Certainly not the moyashi; he's too short to see over the steering wheel!" Allen turned, eyes blazing.

"Whaaaaaaaaat!? For your information I am NOT a beansprout! I am of average height you guys are just freaks!" Lavi chuckled, "Sure, sure, and Kanda here is a ballerina." A sword found its way to the redhead's neck and his laughter died there.

"Well, if you three can't stop fighting, I'll drive!" Ayano said. She glanced at Yumiko; she was looking a little pale, obviously at the prospect of getting into a car, but she had determination in her eyes. "Alrighty morons, let's get this show on the road!"

When they got the rented car, Ayano immediately got into the driver's seat. Allen, Kanda, and Lavi sat in the backseat. Yumiko looked at the car and opened the door with each movement she made she got paler and paler. Slowly she got in the car and when she buckled herself in and shut the door she felt her heart begin to race. Kanda saw that she looked as pale as a ghost, "Are you okay?"

Yumiko hid her fear to the best of her abilities, "I'm fine." Her eyes were stern as they looked ahead at the road. As Ayano started the car up, the sound of the engine made the images of two cars crushed, one standing on its side and the other holding the other car up and slowly being crushed beneath the weight. Yumiko's breaths became slightly labored as she remembered the crushing feeling. The car went down the road and Yumiko's head lowered, her eyes closed. Yumiko passed out from forcing herself to stay "calm" and not jump out of the car and run.

Allen peered over at Yumiko, "Is she really okay? I think she passed out… I wonder why?"

Ayano glanced over and shrugged, "I dunno. She does occasionally get motion sickness, especially on bumpy roads." To prove her point, the road behind and ahead of them was covered in potholes, cracks, and bumps. They passed over a small bump in the road and swerved around a large pothole. Lavi and Allen started to go a little green at the driving.

"Are you sure you have your license Ayano?" Lavi asked, slightly nervous. Ayano rolled her eyes and looked in the rear view mirror, "Of course I do you moron! I'm eighteen for the love of the gods!" Allen paled, "Ayano, eyes on the road!" Ayano jerked the wheel to the side, dodging a coyote carcass. "I'll be amazed if we make it to the Order in one piece," Kanda grumbled. "Oh shaddup!" Ayano growled and straightened the car out. The rest of the car drive passed in relative silence.

* * *

Yumiko awoke when the car came to a sudden stop, "What's going on?!" She was breathing heavily, afraid that they were about to hit another car.

Allen laughed, "Nothing. We just reached our destination."

"Oh… Well, let's get out of this piece of junk shall we?" Happy to get out of the car, Yumiko quickly unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car faster than the others. Once everybody was out of the car, they all looked up at the tall cliff. Yumiko let out a sigh of dread, "We have to climb that don't we?"

"Yup. Don't worry though; we have to climb it too."

"Oh I'm just bursting with excitement knowing that at any moment in time one of these two goofballs could cause us all to fall, break our necks, and die." Yumiko pointed back to Ayano and Lavi. They looked at her in mock shock.

"Us? Make you fall? Never!" They said it in unison, eyes shut, and smiles on their faces, waving their hands up and down. Yumiko rolled her eyes and put her hand to her face. "Sometimes I wonder about the two of you and then I remember that if I did, I'd probably go insane." Ayano grinned, ever so slightly manically. "Well, are we just going to stand around or are we going to start climbing!?"

Ayano reached up and grabbed the cliff face, pulling herself up. She got about ten feet up before she looked back at her friends. "Why are you guys just standing there?" Everyone, including Kanda cracked a smile. "I hope you realize that there's a staircase right there." Yumiko pointed out the mentioned staircase and Ayano looked. "Oooooh… Well then. To the stairs we go!"

Once they reached the top, they saw a huge door and on it was the biggest face Yumiko or Ayano had ever seen. Ayano grimaced at the door, "Wow… That's some door." The face on the door twitched and suddenly got up close to Ayano and spoke.

"I heard that! Why'd you say that?!"

"Because you're weird."

"Hey!"

Lavi pulled out his hammer and enlarged it, "Will you let us in or what? Do I have to bash your head in with my hammer?"

The stone face rolled its eyes and sighed, "Oh whatever. Let me analyze the other two first." Ten seconds later, the door opened and they stepped into the order, their feet squeaking on the smooth, polished marble floors, made of a light gray marble with darker gray and white stripes running through it, giving it the appearance of wind-rippling sand. The ceiling arched high overhead, hidden in the gloom, with white marble pillars soaring up into the air. Brass wall sconces were set into the pillars, bright flames flickering within the glass cases, illuminating the room a bit.

"Is it always so dark?" Ayano asked, peering into the gloom. "Not usually, but a lot of our Finders and Exorcists are out on missions so they don't bother lighting the rest of the hall until they start coming back in." Lavi explained as they began to walk forwards, down the long, dimly lit hall until they reached a set of large, oaken doors. Allen pushed one of the doors open and they walked through, shutting the door behind them with a soft click.

The inside was shaped like a massive circle, with iron rails and marble pillars surrounded the edge of the circle. Ayano and Yumiko walked closer to the edge and peered down and then up. The top ended about ten floors up, but the bottom stretched on down, until the very bottom disappeared in darkness. Doors lined the stone walls and light blue tiles covered the floors and stairs. "Whoa," Yumiko said, her wide eyes taking everything in. "Damn straight," Ayano said, mouth gaping slightly.

A slight buzzing began to fill the air and a small hovercraft, about ten meters by ten meters floated down, with a control panel and a man stationed on the platform. "Hello Kanda, Allen, Lavi, and companions," he said with a smile, peering at the five through black-rimmed glasses. He adjusted the white beret-looking thing on top of his head, "I guess that you'll want to meet and discuss your mission."

Kanda nodded and the strange man led them to his office. He sat down behind his desk and looked at the five of them. Then he addressed Ayano and Yumiko, "Hello, ladies. I am Komui Lee, the chief officer of the Black Order. What might your names be?"

"I'm Ayano and this is Yumiko." Ayano said indifferently and Yumiko just lightly nodded.

"Kanda notified me that you two would be coming and I've also heard that you two have become Accommodators for Innocence." Ayano and Yumiko nodded and Komui continued, "Well I welcome you to the Black Order. I'm guessing that you two have already decided to become Exorcists otherwise you wouldn't be here. Well, congrats to you both. Well will need to make a few tests before you become official Exorcists, but they won't be to awfully painful." Yumiko noticed that Allen turned pale when Komui said tests and wondered if they were actually bad or not. "Before we get to that though, what of you mission, Kanda, Lavi, Allen?"

Lavi told Komui about the book they managed to find and all the maps inside. Kanda gave Komui the book and opened it up to the page with all the maps. Allen then, explained to Komui about their adventure in the ruins and how Yumiko and Ayano got their Innocence.

"Hmm," Komui said and he sipped his coffee, gazing at the two girls, as if analyzing them by simply looking. He stood after a few moments, "Well, I suppose it's time for them to meet Hevlaska now," Komui said with a smile. The two girls looked nervously at each other. "Hevlaska?" Ayano asked, confusion written across her face. "Yes, Hevlaska," Komui said, adjusting his glasses, "She is the permanent resident Exorcist who protects and contains all of the Innocence."

Yumiko raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean about her containing the Innocence?" Komui looked at her, "Why, Hevlaska stored the Innocence within her body. She is also a Prophet and is in tune with every shard of Innocence, aware of each Synchronization rate that each Exorcist is currently at." Ayano grasped her head, "Oh my god, every question you answer just raises a million more," she groaned.

Komui smiled again, "Well, I suppose Lavi, Kanda, and Allen will have to teach you about the Order when you have a chance. For now, we should go see Hevlaska." They all stood and exited the room, walking back to where Komui had left the floating platform and boarding it. The platform went back to the center of the circle and began to descend, slowly at first, and then picking up speed until they were hurtling down into the darkness below.

They stopped in the middle of the darkness, with a small circle of light still above them. Far away flickers of light could be seen at the edges of the circular chamber, but that was not what caught the attention of the two girls.

There was a giant glowing being with the body similar to a serpent. She had no seeable eyes; what looked like hair stretched across her face so that only her nose, mouth and some of the surrounding area was visible, although the hair resembled tentacles in a way. She had long, spindly arms that were not proportionate to her body, with long, claw-like fingers. Ayano and Yumiko's mouths dropped in shock, gaping at the massive Exorcist, who seemed to be a being made totally out of white and light blue light.

Komui laughed, "Alright! Who's up first?" Ayano and Yumiko both gulped and hesitated to answer. Komui gave up and just chose himself, "How about you go first, Yumiko?"

"Uh… Okay… I guess." Yumiko struggled to make herself not run away. Hevlaska reached out to pick up Yumiko and Yumiko immediately tensed up. Once Yumiko was picked up and in the air being held by Hevlaska, she closed her eyes tightly. She felt something on her forehead and she opened her eyes to see that Hevlaska's forehead was lightly touching her forehead.

Hevlaska began to speak, "Synchronization rate… 84%"

Hevlaska set Yumiko down lightly and Yumiko bluntly said, "That was even weirder than the door…"

Next it was Ayano's turn. It didn't take all that long for Hevlaska to find Ayano's synchronization rate, "Synchronization rate… 86%"

When Ayano was put back down on the platform she looked at Yumiko, "You're right that WAS weirder than the door. Hah! My synchronization-rate-thingy was higher than yours!"

"That just means I have more room to improve and my innocence may have more tricks up its sleeves." Yumiko smiled.

Ayano rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, but I'm still better than you~" she teased, poking her friend lightly in the sides. Then she turned to the men. "So, what exactly is the Synchronization rate for?" she inquired, cocking her head to the side. "The Synchronization rate is to determine how close you are to your maximum potential," Allen said, "People whose rate reaches over 100% are qualified to become Generals, although not many come that close." Ayano and Yumiko nodded. "So," Komui said, "Shall the boys show you to your rooms?"

Komui let them off ten floors from the top of the building, where it ended in a dome with a glass ceiling, allowing moonlight to stream in through the panels. "Alright Lavi, Ayano is in Room 46, Kanda, Yumiko is in Room 53. Allen, you can come with me and finish your report in full detail, and then you can go eat a few cows if you want too." All three boys grinned and Allen nodded eagerly, obviously looking forwards to whatever food he could get here at the Black Order. Lavi, Kanda, Ayano, and Yumiko walked together down one of the halls that branched out from the epicenter of the circle, like the spokes of a wagon wheel. They walked in relative silence, arriving at Room 46 after a few minutes. Ayano and Lavi bid Yumiko and Kanda a temporary farewell as Kanda and Lavi began to show them around the Order.

* * *

Lavi and Ayano stepped into Ayano's new room. The walls were made of smooth stone, painted in what must have once been white, but had slowly faded over the decades into an off-white-grayish color. The floor was made up of white and black square tiles. In the room, the only furnishings consisted of a small wrought-iron bed with white sheets and two pillows, a small oak bookshelf, an oak desk, and an oak chair with a black seat cushion on it. "Home sweet home," Lavi said with a grin. "Don't worry; you can change the room to make it look however you want. You want to stay here for a few minutes or go and explore a bit?" Ayano shrugged, "Whatever you want to do Lavi." Lavi grinned.

* * *

Kanda and Yumiko walked in silence until they reached Yumiko's new room. Kanda opened the door for her, "Well here's your room. You can put your own touches to the room." Yumiko nodded and walked over to the fairly large window and looked out of it. Kanda walked over to her, "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yes I'm fine…"

"You don't seem 'fine'. What has been bugging you so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you don't seem to sleep much, you look so dazed and out of it during the day, and you passed out in the car. Ayano told us you get car sick but it just doesn't fit. I don't quite know why but it does."

Yumiko smiled, "Maybe I'll tell you one day… I just can't right now…"

Kanda sighed, "Okay. If you ever need someone to talk to you can talk to me." Kanda gave her a quick hug and left, leaving Yumiko partially shocked. She looked around her dark and solemn room.

"I think I'll decorate later. This looks fine at the moment…" Yumiko walked over to the window and looked out the window.

* * *

An hour later, Lavi and Ayano arrived at Yumiko's room, with Kanda, Allen, and a girl with dark black-green hair that was put up into long pigtails, dark greenish eyes, a short skirt, and tall boots. "Yumiko, this is Lenalee!" Ayano said as she flung the door open. Yumiko jumped; startled as she hadn't heard the people approach her room. Yumiko stood and nodded politely to Lenalee, "Pleased to meet you Lenalee." Lenalee smiled pleasantly, "Same here Yumiko."

Allen butted into the conversation, "Alright, alright, enough of the meet-and-greet, it's time to go eat!" Ayano, Yumiko, Lavi, and Lenalee and smiled and laughed. Kanda just made a "Tch," sound and rolled his eyes. "Stupid moyashi," he grumbled under his breath. Allen whipped around and glared at Kanda, his eyes like two imploding stars.

**"I AM NOT A BEANSPROUT!"** Allen screeched, his voice shooting up at least two octaves. Everyone but Kanda and Allen clutched their ears, groaning in agony, "Allen, stop trying to break glass," Lavi yelled, "I like to keep my eardrums intact and not bleeding thank you!"

Allen rolled his eyes, "Whatever, let's just get some food. It's almost ten o'clock, and we haven't eaten since the train ride." Shrugs and murmurs of agreement followed and Allen led the way to the cafeteria; practically leave a flood of droll in his wake as he imagined the food he would get. Lavi shook his head, "Sometimes, I really do wonder about that kid."

While they ate a nice tasty meal Allen, Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda explained to Ayano and Yumiko what it was like living at the black order and more about what exorcists do. Once Allen finished his 10th plate of food he remembered something that Komui told him to tell the others, "Oh yeah! Komui wanted me to tell you all that we have a mission tomorrow. It's pretty big because there seems to be a lot of Akuma in the area and even a level 2 Akuma. So be ready by early tomorrow morning."

* * *

The next morning, they boarded a train at six o'clock, yawning and tired-eyed as they watched the scenery pass them by on their way to Belgium, home of the famous Belgian waffles. Heads drooped and more than once and heads occasionally rested on the shoulder of the Exorcist that sat beside them. Allen and Lenalee shared a seat, sitting across from Lavi and Ayano, while Yumiko and Kanda sat across the aisle.

The train was relatively crowded, but so much so that it was loud or that they were constantly being bumped into. The clatter of feet would fill the car at every stop, but only five or six boarded at each stop, replacing those that had left. The six Exorcists managed to rouse themselves about two hours later, when they were halfway to the capital of Belgium.

"So," Lavi began, pausing momentarily for a yawn and then beginning to speak again. "Where exactly is the Innocence we're supposed to be looking for?" He spoke in a slightly hushed tone, not in a whisper, for that carries, but in a low voice that was less likely to be overheard than a whisper. "Based on the maps that Komui and I looked over, it's located in an abandoned apple orchard about an hour from the City of Brussels, near an old shack where the family that took care of the orchard used to live."

Kanda rolled his eyes, "Innocence and abandoned places," he said, "It's never in a populated place is it?" Yumiko smiled, "Apparently not," she said, "Based on the last mission, if that's what you want to call it, and this one." Lenalee scratched her chin thoughtfully, "Well, Innocence isn't generally located in populated places, but there was Miranda's town," she said and Allen nodded. "Man, am I glad we got out of there in one piece," he said with a smile, "I thought Road might kill us before we managed to get out." Yumiko and Ayano looked at each other, slightly confused.

"Who is Miranda?" Yumiko asked. "Who is Road?" Ayano added on. "Hmm, how should I explain this?" Allen said. "Well, Miranda Lotto is one of our Exorcists, with a type of Innocence that can manipulate time to an extent." Yumiko and Ayano's eyes widened.

_"TIME!"_ They both exclaimed, a little too loud, which caused attention to be drawn to them.

"Yes," Allen continued, "Time. She had bought a grandfather clock, and unknowingly became the caretaker to a piece of Innocence within the clock. One day, time stopped and she had to relive the same day over and over again, where everybody forgot what had happened except for herself, Lenalee, and me. She can use her Innocence to reverse time on wounds and various other things, healing us for a short amount of time. Now Road… She's a bit harder to explain. Perhaps that explanation is best left for another day."

Ayano frowned, not happy that Allen had not answered her question. She stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled the small glass orbs out. "So what am I going to do when I run out of these? I only have fifteen left." Lavi grinned, "That reminds me; before we left Komui gave me a pouch of glass marbles for you, although they are blank." He held dug around in his bag and produced a small brown leather pouch with a brass buckle on the top, with a belt to attach it to so she could hang it around her waist.

"Great," Ayano said, "Now I just need to know how to make more." Yumiko shrugged, "Why don't you just imagine something appearing within the marble?" Ayano glanced across the aisle, eyebrow raised and a smile on her face. "Yumiko, have I ever told you how much of a genius you are?" Yumiko smirked, "Many, many times; especially concerning math."

Ayano grimaced and took a few of the marbles out of the pouch and held them up, inspecting them. Then she closed her eyes, took a breath, and began to think. After a few seconds, the marbles began to glow soft silver tinged with green the color of spring grass. When the light died down and Ayano un-cupped her hands, the marbles in her hands had gone from holding nothing within to holding small things within the center that appeared to shift around, pacing restlessly within their glass confines.

"Wow," Ayano said, peering at the marbles, "This is so cool!" Lavi grinned, "Now all we need to do is see just how many weapons Yumiko can pull out of nowhere and we'll be set." Yumiko smiled, "Well Lavi, next time, I'll get a bow and you can be my target." Kanda smirked and chuckled a little and everyone else laughed. This was going to certainly be an eventful mission.

The rest of the trip to Belgium was practically uneventful and when they finally reached the place they needed to go to, an ominous chill shriveled down their backs. They investigated the area, searching for Akuma and the innocence. Ayano got confused, "I thought you said there were a lot of Akuma here. We've been here 20 minutes and haven't seen one Akuma yet!"

Allen shrugged, "It is quite odd but we still need to find that innocence. Akuma or no Akuma." They continued their investigation and soon became surrounded by Akuma, who were hiding in the darkness. Yumiko activated her innocence feeling an Akuma close behind them. The armor plated over clothes and the sword was back in her hand.

She quickly turned around expecting to see the regular egg-shaped, metallic looking Akuma but instead some extremely odd looking creature crept out of the dark. It's face looking like an even more twisted look than the Joker from Batman. Its eyes seemed to pierce right through Yumiko and suddenly the world all around them became pitch black.

Yumiko's eyes widened, "A-Allen… What was that thing?"

"That was a level 2 Akuma. Why did it suddenly get so dark?" When Allen asked this, a bright light came down on one area. A dark figure appeared beneath the light sitting in a chair. Yumiko's head lowered so that nobody could see the shock in her eyes.

Kanda looked over at Yumiko, "Yumiko? Is something wrong?"

Yumiko began shaking, "I-It's…"

"It's what?"

Before Yumiko could answer the figure mumbled something that everyone could hear, _"Yumiko… Why?"_ Yumiko's head rose slowly her eyes filled with fear and shock.

Lavi took a turn to ask a question, "W-Why did that thing call out your name?"

Yumiko still gave no response and the thing in the chair spoke again, _"Y-Yumiko… Why did you live and not us?"_ The figure raised its head and it twitched to the side. It seemed to be human. Blood spilled from the empty eye sockets and from its mouth. Its face was battered and bruised and with a sudden motion the body limply fell from the chair and began crawling towards them.

Ayano remembered the description that Yumiko had given her about her nightmares, "… Yumiko, this is your nightmare isn't it?"

"…Yes…" As Yumiko replied, Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, and Kanda looked at her shocked. Yumiko looked at them, "…Meet my dead brother… Kalon…" Yumiko dropped to her knees as tears arose in her eyes and slipped down her cheeks.

Kalon spoke again, _"Why did you let us die, sister?"_

"I-I didn't mean to…" Kalon inched closer to Yumiko. Kanda saw that Kalon was about to lunge at Yumiko and ran to stop it. He drew Mugen and sliced down on the creature's body. Nothing happened; his stroke just went straight through the creature.

"What's going on?!"

"Kanda… This is my nightmare… Only I can stop it… I know that now…"

Yumiko stood back up and slowly brought up her sword and pointed it had Kalon's head. The sword shook as her arm did. Looking at her brother she shook her head and took a step back, "I-I can't do it… My mind tells me to… But my heart denies it…"

Ayano looked at Yumiko in all seriousness, "If you can't kill that thing, then we're all dead. You're the only one who can defeat your nightmares. Besides it's just an Akuma doing this. It's just playing with your head."

Yumiko tried to get that in her head and it proved difficult for her. Without much of any control except for resistance against it, the blade began to raise itself. It was as if the innocence in the sword had a mind of its own. "No," Yumiko said trying to force the blade back down, "No!" Once it was raised fully in the air it dropped down and cut Kalon in half. Blood splattered on Yumiko and she fell to her knees.

The world became light and back to its original state. When everything seemed back to normal, all five of her comrades looked at Yumiko, who was on her knees, her sword on the ground next to her. They couldn't see her eyes but they were filled with sadness even though it was just an illusion created by an Akuma it still hurt her just as bad. Although she wasn't crying on the outside she was practically drowning in an ocean of tears.

Their heads turned at the sound of a choking noise that suddenly ripped through the air. The Akuma lay on its back, its gaping, twisted mouth open in agony, a gash going through the center of its chest. Its form flickered, going back and forth in between the sickly green praying mantis beast that it appeared to be and the figure of the boy from the dream; a boy with a face still round from childhood, with spikey blonde hair that framed his face and eyes that flickered between green orbs and empty bloody sockets.

Kanda snarled and lunged forwards, unsheathing Mugen in a single smooth movement and hacking the creatures head off. It dissipated, giving off one last choked breath before disappearing. Then they turned back to Yumiko, who was still hunched over on the ground. Ayano's head jerked back up as she remembered something.

"Shit. Guys, we're still fucking _surrounded!_" She yelped and four heads snapped up to the Akuma above. "Shit," Lavi said, fumbling for his hammer before finally whipping it out. Allen's arm changed from an arm to a large clawed appendage, covered with white ridge ridges. Kanda held his sword at the ready, his feet planted in a clear sign that he would protect Yumiko. Lenalee activated her Innocence and the bangles around her feet began to glow and she pushed herself up into the air, hanging their through the green flame-like strands of light that originated from the bangles.

Yumiko slowly noticed what was going on around her. She saw that Akuma were everywhere, avenging the higher-level Akuma. Her hand reached and searched for her sword on the ground and when her fingers touched the handle, she saw the sword slashing her brother in her mind. She shook the memory off the best she could and grasped the handle, 'I have to help them… What good am I if I can't even properly kill ONE Akuma?' Slowly she stood, her other hand taking hold of the other part of the handle. Kanda looked over to her,

"It's alright, Yumiko. You've done enough; you can leave the rest to us." Yumiko mumbled something and Kanda could barely hear it, "What is it Yumiko?"

In an angry tone Yumiko said it again, "What good am I if I can't kill one Akuma?! If I can't kill one lowly Akuma then I'd be better off dead with the rest of my family!" Yumiko ran at Akuma coming near her and cut it in half with a single stroke filled with anger. She was light on her feet as she ran, killing any Akuma in her path.

Ayano raised several of her newly created marbles and threw them against the ground, unleashing the thought projections within with a burst of light. A jumbo-sized Indian Elephant, saber-tooth tiger, woolly mammoth, bear, and a lynx rose from the origins of the light, roaring and trumpeting as they saw their enemies. One by one, the beasts leapt into the air, all except for the lynx, who prowled around Ayano, protecting her from any Akuma that dared to draw near.

Kanda whirled around, unleashed white bugs whose exoskeletons resembled Allen's arms in a way, with bulging red eyes coming from their heads and gaping mouths that tore through the Akuma. Lenalee whirled through the air, kicked and smashing any Akuma in her path. Allen raked his claws across Akuma after Akuma, switching back and forth between the claws and his arm-gun. Lavi extended his hammer and swung it around, knocking out half a dozen Akuma with a single swipe.

It wasn't quite enough though. The Akuma were like the Hydra; when you kill one, two more would appear in its place. "Damn it, there's no end to them!" Ayano yelled over the roar of the battle.

* * *

**-Chapter 3 END-**

**Mwahahahahaha, we have finished yet another chapter! There's just something about two people writing together that helps you churn out chapters so much faster. Plus, it helps to have the other person proofread your stuff before you post it XD. Kiyohara here, once again, to let you know that we really appreciate your views~ And to the next person that reviews, I will give you…. Wait for it… NYAN CAT! Not really. But anyways, we hope that you are enjoying are story and come back for more. Until next time, ciao~**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Innocence of Our World**

**-Chapter 4-**

* * *

After slaying a couple Akuma, with what few seconds Allen had to speak, he yelled out, "We have to find the innocence! Maybe one of us can get the innocence and the rest of us can hold of the Akuma!" Ayano, Kanda, Allen, and Lavi all looked at Lenalee.

Lenalee looked back at them, "Why me?"

Ayano pointed out the obvious, "Well you do have those boots and they seem to increase their speed. It's either you or Yumiko and with the state Yumiko is in now, I would choose you." Lenalee finally agreed to find the innocence and everyone fought off more Akuma.

Ayano pulled out another handful of her marbles to replace five of the six beasts that had already fallen, with only the bear still standing. "Heads!" She yelled and tossed several off them up into the air, shattering the rest onto the dirt beneath her feet. Lavi dodged to the side, just in time to have half a dozen massive eagles shoot past him towards four Akuma that he had been attacking moments before.

Yumiko flipped off of the roof of a building and sliced through an Akuma neatly, hitting the ground with one foot and not breaking her stride as she continued to run towards her next Akuma victim. Allen jumped backwards through the air, avoiding a massive concentrated blast of dark matter and firing off his own bolts of golden energy back at the Akuma. Kanda was filling the air with the bug-creatures and hacking at any Akuma who dared to float too close. The orchard was filled with mayhem from all sides, and then a voice range out through the air.

"_Hi Ban: Gouka Kaijin!"_ Ayano looked up into the air and instantly paled at the massive inferno that raged above her. The flames took the form of a snake, which twisted around, snapping at the Akuma and coming close to setting fire to part of the orchard.

'_No…'_ Ayano thought, '_anything, anything but fire.'_ The animals spawned from the marbles stiffened and began to grow hazy as her concentration wavered until they completely disappeared. _'Fire,' _Ayano thought, '_Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire.'_ Images from memories that had been buried for years began to resurface.

_Screams that filled the corridors as they tried to escape. Her screams, hoarse and choked from the smoke that filled her lungs. Flames tore across her back, burning the flesh until it was red, raw, and bleeding. She stumbled out into the open, the cool night air rushing to greet her. Her tears had been seared away in the heat of the fire, but now they sprang to life, pouring down her raw, red face as she stumbled into the arms of the paramedics and firemen waiting outside her home._

Yumiko saw that Ayano was completely defenseless and Akuma were rushing towards her. She knew something was wrong because Ayano never acted like this. Yumiko quickly turned towards Ayano and the oncoming Akuma. She faced them directly and let out a yell to increase her strength and slashed at the Akuma. Her last slash threw out a strong gust that ripped the other Akuma to shreds.

Once they were gone she looked at Ayano, "Ayano snap out of it! Come on!" Akuma charged at them again. Yumiko accepted their challenge and quickly dealt with them. Once she was done with the Akuma she staggered forward as she began to feel the strength seep away from her. Yumiko wasn't just using strength to fight; she was using her inner strength to fight off the thoughts of her cutting her brother in half. Her body tensed up and she stood up with the help of her sword.

She used her free hand to shake Ayano, "Please! Snap out of it! We need you!" Yumiko fell to one knee and used her sword to help her stand back up again. Once more Akuma went at them. Yumiko used the last of her strength to drag her sword upward and strike heavily once again. She hoped to do what she had done moments earlier and let the gusts of wind tear the Akuma apart but unfortunately she didn't have enough strength to pull off such a great force again. Her sword fell from her grip and she fell to her hands and knees with plenty more Akuma in front of her.

Yumiko braced for the Akuma bullets but instead of getting hit by the bullets they didn't even hit her at all. She looked up and saw Kanda slaying the Akuma with great amounts of force. He looked back at her, "Are you two alright?!"

Yumiko nodded, "I'll be fine… I don't know about Ayano though. Something's wrong with her and she won't snap out of it!"

_The fire raged through the night sky, tainting the air with the acrid taste of smoke. "No!" Ayano cried, struggling to go back to the house where _they_ were still trapped. "Let me go!" But the hands holding her only tightened their grip. There was a prick in her arm and then she slid into nothingness, seeing the fire even behind unconscious eyes._

Ayano hit the ground, knees folded underneath her, eyes staring blankly ahead. "Should I slap her?" Yumiko said, swaying slightly on her feet from the exhaustion of overusing her Innocence." Kanda nodded and leaped towards the next Akuma that appeared. The numbers of the Akuma were dwindling quickly, going from thirty or so to less than five in a matter of minutes.

Lavi's fire seal had disappeared and he was back to smashing the Akuma flatter than pancakes with his hammer. Allen was darting after two of the more agile Akuma, energy bolts flying through the air. Yumiko reared back, palm as stiff as a board as she prepared to strike her friend.

"Sorry Ayano," she muttered and then her hand cracked against her friend's face, sending Ayano's head jerking to the left. She shivered all over and her eyes jumped to Yumiko, tears threatening to spill over. She opened her mouth to say something but Yumiko shook her head and looked up to the sky, where Allen, Kanda, and Lavi dropped down from, having finished off the rest of the Akuma.

Yumiko fought to keep herself conscious but her exhaustion got the best of her and she collapsed on the ground. Her armor disappeared and the sword faded away. Her nightmares returned and she tried to wake up but her exhaustion resisted against her and kept her unconscious.

Kanda picked up Yumiko and Lavi and Allen helped Ayano walk. They managed to reach the safe-house to wait for Lenalee to come back. Kanda looked at Ayano with a twinge of annoyance is his eyes. He didn't say anything to her knowing that he would get either an evil animal in his face or Lavi getting angry at him. He didn't feel like dealing with the annoying angry Lavi.

Lavi helped Ayano to a chair, where she pulled her legs in tight and buried her face into her knees. Lavi pulled a chair up at sat beside her, catching Kanda's eye and shooting a glare at him when he saw the expression on Kanda's face. Kanda snorted and went to go sit next to Yumiko, unconsciously picking at his sword hilt.

"Ayano…" Lavi began, "What happened back there?" Ayano shuddered and let out a soft, strangled sob. "Fire," she whispered, "Fire happened." Allen and Lavi exchanged looks; what could be so bad about fire? Kanda sighed, "When exactly is Lenalee going to show up." There was a knock on the door, three short raps, a two second pause, and then two more taps. "That's her," Allen said with a grin and opened the door, allowing the Chinese-looking girl in.

Lenalee had the innocence in her hands and she gave it to Allen, "What happened? When I came back there were no Akuma and you all look terrible. Why is Yumiko out like a light and why is Ayano looking like she saw a horror movie?"

Kanda was the one to answer Lenalee, "Well we all ended up killing every last Akuma. While we were taking care of them something happened to Ayano and she became practically defenseless. Something broke her concentration and her marble creations disappeared. Yumiko ran to help her and ended up overexerting herself when she was protecting Ayano from oncoming Akuma. After that we killed all the Akuma we came here and that's it."

Lenalee rubbed her chin and sat at the table, across from Allen. They began to talk in hushed tones, obviously talking about the battle and what Lenalee had done while securing the Innocence. By the time they were both down, the moon was beginning its descent across the horizon. "We should probably wait until tomorrow before we head back to the Order," Allen said after a few minutes of silence.

"And for Yumiko to wake," Lenalee added and then she stood. "Well, I'll look for some spare pieces of cloth of blankets we can sleep on. Lavi, you have first watch." The redhead nodded and watched as Allen, Kanda, and Lenalee pulled out some blankets and sheets from a closet in another room of the house and spread them out onto the floor. Kanda laid his blankets beside the bed Yumiko was occupying and laid his sword down. Allen and Lenalee stretched out beside the wall.

* * *

Within a few minutes, the three were asleep and the only two left conscious were Ayano and Lavi. Lavi glanced at Ayano, who was still staring forwards with a blank expression. "Ayano, you should go to bed now," he said after a moment. She glanced at him and nodded slowly, fear still prevalent in her eyes. Lavi grabbed some extra blankets and laid them out for her, where she laid down and curled up in a fetal position. Lavi sat down next to her and looked all around the room.

Yumiko looked like hell; pale and exhausted, with dark bags beneath her eyes. Kanda looked only slightly less grumpy than usual, despite the fact of his lack of consciousness. Allen was making gestures, as if he was awake and eating something per usual. Lenalee was just lying there, face blank. And Ayano… she looked like she was fighting a losing battle between sleep and wakefulness. Lavi put a hand on her shoulder and offered a small smile. With a soft sigh, she closed her eyes and fell into the depths of sleep.

Lavi sat there for a while, simply listening to the soft breathing of his companions as it filled the small abandoned home. Thoughts began to filter in, seemingly random at first; from the first wars that he had seen as a child to the people he had met over the year. Then random bits of scientific information fluttered in; the rock cycle; the ten nearest solar systems and the planets and stars within; the names of various constellations. He blew a puff of air out and looked up through the slightly cracked window to the dark night sky outside. It was going to be a long night, but hey, at least he could steal someone's bed when he changed shifts.

* * *

Yumiko jerked awake, _Ayano and the Akuma! I have to help her!_ She looked around and saw that there were no Akuma in sight. Yumiko put a hand on her head as a shock of pain shot through her head, "Ngh!" Once Yumiko was able to put aside the pain she looked around her and saw her friends sleeping, some more peacefully than others. She looked down at Ayano and saw that she wasn't sleeping with any peace at all, like she was stuck watching a horror movie over and over again in her head. Yumiko's head lowered and she walked out of the room not noticing that Kanda was on watch.

Later on in the night Kanda had relieved Lavi of his post and taken his place. He saw Yumiko and stood up, "You're awake." Yumiko slowly nodded. "Are you okay?"

"I can't do anything right, can I?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I can't even save my friend without passing out half way through! What good am I to the Black Order if I can't even stay conscious for one measly battle?! All I am is a nuisance!"

"No you're not!" Kanda grabbed Yumiko's shoulders and she looked at him tears streaming from her eyes. Kanda let go of her when he saw the tears. He had never seen her cry before and it hurt him inside to see her this way. He tried to comfort her with words, "You did all you could. There were countless numbers of Akuma out there. You had already been through enough yesterday. It was amazing that you defeated so many."

"If I could defeat so many, then why couldn't I defeat more? I was weak! I let my stupid nightmares get the best of me which caused pain not only to myself but to you all as well! If I hadn't have been so weak then we could have defeated all those Akuma easier! I wouldn't have-" Yumiko fell as her exhaustion caught up with her again.

Kanda caught Yumiko by her side and helped her stand again, "This proves that you fought to your limit. You did all you could. Don't blame yourself."

Yumiko frowned in disagreement and sighed. "Fine," she said after a moment, dragging her foot through the sandy dirt. "You can't do everything," Kanda said, his eyes looking anywhere but at Yumiko.

"I know you want to try, but it's physically impossible to do everything alone. You need to learn to lean on others and hold back so that when the time comes, you can let everything out that you've been holding back. And don't worry about your nightmares; they'll be with you but they will never truly dominate you unless you allow them to. You have strength Yumiko; you just need to realize it." Yumiko felt her eyes begin to sting and burn and fought off the tears that threatened to give her away at the kindness from the usually gruff and angry samurai.

"Thanks Kanda," she whispered and took a step towards him, wrapping her arms around him quickly before stepping back and walking back into the small house, blushing madly all the way. _Hmm,_ Kanda thought, _interesting…_

Yumiko quickly tried to fall asleep to sleep the embarrassment off but when she managed to sleep again it wasn't pleasant like usual. The next time she awoke was when the light from the morning shone onto her face. Slowly she sat up, not feeling as good as she wanted to. Her body was heavily fatigued and she still worried about her friend. Was she okay? What happened to her? She wished she knew so she could help.

"I wonder where Komui is going to send us next," Lavi said to Allen as he pulled apart a loaf of bread, trying to divide it evenly amongst the six of them. Kanda, Lenalee, Allen, Lavi, and Ayano were sitting in a small circle, waiting for Yumiko to get up before they dug in.

Ayano looked, for lack of better a better comparison, like a train wreck that had been doused in kerosene and lit on fire. Lavi had deep bags under his eyes and was constantly yawning. Lenalee looked as chipper as ever, although how she managed it without coffee, Yumiko would never know. Allen was nearly drooling at the food that Lavi was pulling out, glancing at the food and then at Lavi, judging whether or not he could snag a bit before Lavi could react. Kanda was simply staring at the group in his usual grumpy way and then he glanced at Yumiko.

"Oh, you're up." Yumiko nodded and rose from the bed, joining the other Exorcists as Lavi and Lenalee began to distribute their remaining rations. "Kanda," Allen said in between mouthfuls, "You should probably contact the Headquarters with your golem and tell Komui we'll be there sometime tonight."

Kanda scowled, both at Allen's words and at how the white haired boy had the audacity to speak with his mouth full. It was truly amazing how Allen had learned how to speak around a mouthful of food that would choke any normal person with a jaw that was not like a snake's, and still managed not to spray everyone around him with crumbs. "Do it yourself moyashi." Allen glared at Kanda and swallowed a mouthful of food.

* * *

After they had all finished their rations and Kanda had contacted Komui, they set out back to the order. Yumiko found a nice walking stick along the way to help the fatigue. She watched as the group was chipper except for Kanda as usual and Ayano. Lavi seemed to try to cheer her up but nothing he did worked. Yumiko decided that once they were back on the train and hopefully everyone was asleep she would consult Ayano about what was wrong. She couldn't stand to see her friend, who usually is bouncing off the walls, so down and just utterly depressed.

The walk back to the train station was positively depressing; without the usual lively banter that Ayano and Lavi constantly exchanged and the strange tension-like feeling in the air, conversation didn't exactly feel welcoming at the moment. So the six walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked in the disconcerting and smothering blanket of silence that enveloped them like a cocoon around a caterpillar.

Not even the small but noisy crowd at the train station could break the deadening silence. Yumiko wanted to bang her head against the brick walls of the train station in frustration, but she clung the too the sheer bit of sanity that prevented her from doing so. After almost an hour wait, the train finally steamed in and they waited for the long ride back to France. From there, they would then board another train to get to Britain. They had to go a roundabout way this time, passing through Belgian countryside as they made their way back to French coast.

Once they boarded the train and took their seats they all needed something to pass the time with. Yumiko tried to avert her mind from making her just come out and ask Ayano what was bothering her by thinking about her innocence, "So… What all do you think my innocence can do?"

Kanda shrugged and Allen made an effort to say something, "Well why don't you try making something different with your innocence?"

"I don't know if a train is the best place…"

Allen laughed, "Probably not, even if there is only one person on the train. It's not exactly considered good etiquette to whip out weapons." Yumiko smirked, "Even when an Akuma is attacking?" Allen rolled his eyes in a playful manner, "Well, there are obviously some exceptions."

Lavi nodded, "Like the Noah." That sobered up the conversation, although Yumiko and Ayano still had no idea about what a Noah was. "So we have what, four hours until we hit France? Time to go back to sleep!" Lavi said with an eager emerald eye, shutting it and falling asleep within seconds.

Lenalee laughed and shook her head, "It's amazing, the things men can do." Allen nodded and a broad grin on his face. Kanda just scowled a little and moved to the set of seats across the aisle and sat down, leaning his head against the window and shutting his eyes. After a few minutes, Allen managed to badger Lenalee into coming with him to go get second breakfast with him.

And then Yumiko and Ayano were left in the compartment. "Ayano," Yumiko said, "… Do you need to talk about what happened last night?" Ayano grimaced at the mention of it and glanced at Lavi, "… Not here."

The two girls made their way to the back of the train, three compartment sections behind them, where they stood on the balcony-like protrusion on the back and watched the fleeing countryside as it passed them by. Pastures and orchards and small, quaint towns that seemed to be the epitome of peace, with people going about their business as normal, trees bearing their fruit as summer began its closure, and the crops were thick and rich in the fields. Fluffy white clouds scuttled quickly across the sky like bits of tumbleweed and the sun, although directly overhead, was not too fierce. All in all, it was a perfect day.

"Ayano, what exactly happened during the battle?" Yumiko asked, looking at her friend who was leaning against the railing, her chin on the sun-warmed metal. Ayano sighed and lightly dragged a nail against one of the vertical bars.

"A couple of years before I met you, when I was ten, my family was having a party for a great aunt of mine. She was turning a hundred and six believe it or not. Anyways, we had lit a bunch of candles and made a little fire in the fireplace because it was November and it was pretty cold that year. I thought we had blown out all of the candles and put the fire out, but apparently, we had missed a candle or something.

"Sometime during the night, one of our cats knocked a candle over and it caught. It… it spread quickly. I went down to the second floor, where my sisters rooms were, but the fire blocked me off from there. The doors out were blocked too… I could hear my sisters screaming as the fire got to them. I tried to save them, but part of the room collapsed and fell on me. It hurt so damn much, but I somehow managed to pull myself out, grab a chair, break a window, and get out. By the time I woke up in the hospital, the entire house had burned down. Everyone died." Her voice was brittle and dead; if it was a bone it would have snapped. "I'm afraid of fire Yumiko," Ayano said, "I'm afraid of fire and I'm afraid of dying."

"It's alright Ayano." Yumiko put a comforting hand on Ayano's shoulder, "Everyone has a fear. Whether it has any personal story behind it or it's something as simple as spiders. You're not the only one afraid of dying, I, myself am another person dying and my personal fears is that my family blamed me for the crash for not speaking out or that one day my nightmares will come true like the vision that Akuma illustrated. I wanted for hardly anybody at all to know my past or nightmares.

"Once things like this happen it should hopefully give you strength to move on. Would your family want you to live like this? Depressed and like a mindless doll, created to show the doll-maker's depression and pain? I don't think they would. You shouldn't push away your past. It takes strength that you need for another purpose away and makes you weak. I'm not saying to constantly think about your past and ruin your life. I'm saying to let your past make you stronger. I know I must be sounding like a hypocrite…"

"Yumiko, I'm not going to lie and say you don't sound a little like a hypocrite, but I definitely appreciate the words." Ayano sighed, "I'll try. I really will this time. And I'll have to do something about that fire phobia," she said and pulled something out of her pocket, holding it up for Yumiko to see. Inside was a tiny little green dragon, flapping its wings and occasionally exhaling a burst of flame. Yumiko smiled a little, "Yeah that might be a good idea." They sat in silence for a few moments.

"So, do you want to go get some coffee? Or rather, coffee for you, something nice and cold for me?" Yumiko gave Ayano a look that screamed _'duh'_.

Yumiko and Ayano walked to the train car that had a bar inside. Yumiko ordered coffee and Ayano ordered an orange soda. They talked for a while and when Yumiko made a joke about the four sleeping in the train car a couple train cars away from them Ayano gave out a good hearty laugh. It brought a smile to Yumiko's face. She finally saw her friend's smile. Maybe she can be happy for a while and Lavi and Ayano can enjoy some good time together. Out of nowhere a drunken man comes up behind Yumiko and starts trying to 'sweet' talking her. Yumiko smiles at him and punches him in the face. A frown formed on Yumiko's face, "Let's get out of here before more idiots try talking to us."

"I'll take one more to go," Ayano told the bartended, who handed her a plastic cup with a lid and straw. They walked back to their compartment, where they found the four companions asleep and the compartment otherwise empty. Ayano sipped her orange drink, eyes wide.

"So Yumiko, I think while we're in France we should sooooooo go see Paris you know? Wouldn't that be great!? I mean, I can't speak a lick of French but I'm sure Lavi or Allen could!" She gasped, "We could go to _Disneyland_! Or whatever the French equivalent is. I forgot if it went under the same name or not. Ooh, and we could go to the beach! Not a nude beach though; _that _would be disgusting. I mean honestly, how little decency can people have? Oh gosh, we have to go to where they launched the D Day operation!"

Yumiko looked at her friend, slightly startled. "Um Ayano, how much sugar have you had?" Ayano blinked rapidly for a few moments. "Well, you're the one who let me have three of these, not counting this one." Yumiko slapped her face with her hand, leaving a bright red mark.

"Oh hell I forgot…" she muttered. Ayano latched herself onto a window, face mushed up against the glass pane. "Look Yumiko I can see sheep! Fluffy, white, poufy, cuddly, loveable, absolutely-freaking-adorable sheep! And look, a brown cow!" Lavi was roused by the sudden chatter and looked at Ayano, who looked like a lizard clinging to a wall. He looked at Yumiko. "What the hell?" Yumiko shook her head, "Note No. 348: Don't let Ayano have caffeine or sugar."

After a long wait full of excitement of random things and energy, Ayano finally crashed. She was out like a light before she knew it. Yumiko finally had some quiet time to think for herself. She thought about the advice she had given to Ayano._ 'Maybe I should try to do those things I advised for Ayano to do… Who knows maybe it'll help me get over my fears and I can live happier…'_ Yumiko managed to doze off into for once a slightly peaceful sleep. For once Yumiko didn't dream of the horrors of her past and instead dreamed of happier things like joining the order and hanging out with her new friends and Kanda. She smiled as she slept.

* * *

**-Chapter 4 END-**

**Oh my gosh, you should have seen the typo I had (Kiyohara here btw). I put "**_**Yumiko slapped her face with her face, leaving a bright red mark."**_** See the mistake there? Lol, it was funny but not really publishable XD. Anyways, sorry for the slight delay; Xandra and I haven't been able to type as much because we are currently both taking Driver's Ed (the most boring class in existence), and boatloads of homework also make it a little harder. But despite that, I thank all those who have stuck with our story so far and hope you continue to do so. Thank you for reading. Ciao~**

**... I just looked at the story today and realized that I never fixed the whole 'face with her face' thing... I fixed it now but that's still pretty embarrassing...**


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